Pakistan: floods affect more than five million

A man carries his daughters in a search for higher ground after flood waters engulfed the town of Khoski in Sindh Province, Pakistan [REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro courtesy of alertnet]

Heavy monsoon rains have caused widespread flooding in Sindh Province, Pakistan, many parts of which are still recovering from the floods of 2010.

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More than five million people have been affected by this year’s floods, and at least a million homes have been damaged or destroyed. Many people are in urgent need of food, clean water and shelter.

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Likely to get worse

CAFOD Programme Officer Monika Vrsanska is currently in Pakistan. She says:

“This is the sixth week that people in Badin District in Sindh Province have been trying to cope with the floods. There is water everywhere, many health units are flooded, and sanitation is appalling: mosquitoes are breeding in the standing water, and you can see kids swimming in water that animals are drinking from. It’s only a question of time before disease breaks out.

“Driving through the countryside, I’ve seen hundreds of families just sitting by the road with shawls as their only protection. There are lot of informal settlements. Many people don’t even have plastic sheets to cover themselves with.

“The cotton crop has been almost completely destroyed. Seeing pictures of ripe, unpicked cotton fields turning black under floodwater is heartbreaking. This will have a big effect on poor women in the district, as cotton is their main source of income.

“People are asking for food, health services and shelter. The situation is likely to get worse before it gets better.”

We have already pledged £400,000 towards emergency relief for people who have lost their homes, and we are continuing to monitor the situation.

Floods across the region

Monsoon rains have also caused widespread flooding in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. In Bangladesh , we are providing emergency food aid, as well as helping people to prepare for disasters in the longer term.

Please keep all those affected in your thoughts and prayers.

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