Pakistan’s nightmare - Tragedy is a chance to build trust

THOSE unfortunate enough to have their homes, farms or business caught up in our occasional but terribly damaging floods will have some very small idea of the great challenges facing the people of Pakistan.

The majority of us can have no real idea of the terrible difficulties challenging the estimated 14 million people caught up in northwestern Swat valley, parts of Punjab and Sindh’s worst ever floods.

Their homes, jobs, schools, farms, roads, crops and food supplies have all been destroyed or made unusable. Their situation is exacerbated by the fact that they have little enough prospect of getting the support they need from an unpopular, autocratic and corrupt government.