The world has given or pledged more than $800 million to help Pakistan cope with massive floods, the foreign minister said Sunday, as workers in the south used sandbags and stones to strengthen river levees in areas threatened by rising water. Pakistan is grateful for the international assistance, which came after the United Nations appealed for $460 million in aid for the deluged country, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. «The total commitments and pledges that Pakistan has got so far are $815.58 million,» he told reporters in Islamabad. «In these circumstances, when the West and Europe and America are going through a recession ... this kind of solidarity for Pakistan, I think, is very encouraging.»
