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| Arshad Ali had a shop and supported his family prior to the floods. Now he has lost both his shop and his home. |
”My house is still flooded and my entire rice harvest has been destroyed. I am left with nothing” says Iqbal. His family is merely one of many affected families in the Sindh Province, where Church World Service (CWS) operates.
Iqbal’s family consists of 12 members and they have just received a month’s food ration from CWS.
”I am very grateful for the food as it means that I do not need to borrow money. My children are suffering from stomach diseases and skin infections so I hope that we will be able to receive medical attention as well at some point in time” he says.
Building materials
Pakistani families have been hit hard by the floods.
They have lost their homes, they are sick and cannot access health services, their children cannot attend school.
Entire villages have been hit so hard that it will take several years to rebuild their communities.
| Flood damage by numbers |
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| Nearly 20 million people are affected. 8.5 million of them are children.
1 million homes lost. Several hundreds of thousands of animals have died. Thousands of schools have been destroyed. Thousands of medical facilities have been destroyed. Source: Church World Service Pakistan / Afghanistan |
CWS as well as the authorities and other organisations are deeply involved in rebuilding communities.
18-year-old Arshad Ali is from the Swat Valley. He suffers from polio and has no use of one foot and one hand.
Arshad had a small shop in his village and prior to the floods he supported his retired parents and four siblings.
He has lost both his shop and his home and he is unable to support his family.
”I am grateful for the food provided by CWS. I am now hoping to receive building materials so that I can rebuild my house”.
Coordination
CWS is working intensely to deliver food to the families who have been hit the hardest.
The organisation has three mobile health units and thus far the staff has assisted and treated more than 5,000 families.
In addition to the disaster relief work, CWS participates in a number of meetings during which the authorities and the organisations coordinate their efforts.
The objective is to ensure that relief aid is replaced by reconstruction work as soon as possible so that the affected families will regain their independence and not be dependent on aid.
Eva Højrup