Growing concern about humanitarian situation in flooded Pakistan

19 August 2010  

 

 

The humanitarian situation in flooded Pakistan is cause for great concern. Relations of Justice and Peace are active in emergency aid and relief operations in what is now deemed the worst natural disaster in the history of Pakistan.

  

The organisations Church World Service Pakistan/Afghanistan (CWS P/A) and Taangh Wasaib Organisation (TWO) are assisting victims of the recent floods with emergency aid and the provision of medical care. They inform us that basic needs are hardly met and that famine and hygiene-related diseases are likely to spread as a result.

 

Worst natural disaster

According to official estimates by the government of Pakistan and by the United Nations, the floods constitute the worst natural disaster in the history of Pakistan. More than 15 million people are affected and 1,600 people are killed. Continuous rainfall and tidal waves have caused severe damage in the provinces Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh. Hundreds of thousands of houses are destroyed and many roads are blocked by mud and debris. The water level in a number of reservoirs continues to rise, causing concern for bursts.

 

New disasters

The lacking of basic needs such as safe drinking water, food and shelter may create new humanitarian disasters. Increased food prices and loss of crops lead to malnutrition and may cause famine. Outbreaks of cholera and diarrhoea and skin diseases have already been reported. Thousands of families are homeless.

 

Residents of D.I.Khan with their livestock by the roadside. Photo: Zafar Wazir.