The continual heavy monsoon rains, which started at the end of July, have claimed 1,600 lives. Villages have been washed away and the agricultural land and crops that families made their living from are under water. Fourteen million people, including six million children, are affected. Many desperately need shelter, food, clean water, sanitation and medical care.
Oxfam, which has worked in Pakistan since 1973, is responding in four provinces, providing clean water and sanitation vital to prevent the explosion of water-borne diseases. Getting clean drinking water to young children is a priority to prevent diarrhoea, which can be deadly.
Oxfam's Country Director in Pakistan, Neva Khan, says, 'The rains are continuing and with each hour that passes the flooding is multiplying misery across the entire country. This is a mega disaster and it needs a mega response.'
Despite the scale of the floods and the number of people suffering, international governments have not been as generous as they have been for other disasters. In the first ten days after the flooding started, less than £30m had been committed by international governments to the disaster, which works out at less than £2 per flood-affected person.
On the other hand, the response from the British public has been generous, with more than £10m donated in the first week to the Disasters Emergency Committee, made up of 13 leading UK aid agencies, including Oxfam.
To donate:
Call the DEC on 0370 60 60 900, text: 70707 with the word GIVE to donate £5. A standard network rate charge will apply. Click on this link: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/pakistan-floods/index.php
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