Pakistan crisis grows, straining disaster relief funds

Relief agencies are reporting that more than 17 million people have been driven from their homes. Families are faced with contaminated water, cramped living conditions and a lack of sanitation, which are contributing to a rapid increase in cases of diarrhea and skin diseases in children.

“People are in urgent need of almost everything: shelter, health clinics, clean water, sanitation and livelihood support,” said Mike Bailey, World Vision’s regional manager for advocacy. “And that’s just what we gleaned from the areas we can reach. Flooding and the damage it has left behind mean there are areas we want to help that we still can’t reach."

Relief agencies are falling short of the funds needed to provide basic emergency relief. Baptist Global Response says that it may need $1 million in hunger and relief funds — but total donations so far have barely topped $31,000. World Vision estimates it will need $20 million to provide basic emergency relief for 300,000 people over the next three to six months and so far have only been able to raise $6 million in the U.S. funds.

The Indus River will not reach peak flood stage for several more days and it could be two weeks before the river returns to normal levels because high tides in the Arabian Sea are slowing drainage of floodwater, Pakistan's chief meteorologist told reporters Aug. 24. Millions of people have lost homes, possessions, crops and livestock, and the United Nations has estimated up to 3.5 million children are at high risk of deadly water-borne diseases.

“In conditions like these, something as simple as a cough can turn into a deadly case of pneumonia; a lack of clean water is likely to result in diarrhea for a small child,” said Bailey. “The fact is that many of these families may not be able to return home for at least three months, if not longer. Lack of adequate shelter, combined with an extreme shortage of health care and medicine, is making this disaster that much worse.”

Even in desperate straits, however, some Pakistani flood survivors have demonstrated generosity toward others in need, said Francis Horton, who with his wife Angie directs works in southern Asia for BGR.

Horton said his team came across a group of 85 people, mostly women and children, who were setting up camp on a roadside after fleeing their flooded village for higher ground.

"They had arrived during the night and were camped on the edge of the highway, near an overpass," Horton wrote in an email. "They had no food and very little water. We put together a plan to get back to them with some cooked food within the next few hours.

"Angie and I, along with our friends from Indus Christian Fellowship and another couple that had come with us, bought 26 pounds of chicken curry and 150 pieces of fresh bread and 30 cans of water and hired a truck to deliver it," Horton said. "When we arrived back at the site, we enlisted the leader to help organize and distribute the things, which he did.

"The most amazing thing happened — something I have not seen happen before in a food distribution," Horton said. With food left over, the leader said, "That is enough for us. Give the rest to someone else who needs it.'

"I could not believe it," Horton said. "There are some people in desperate conditions here in Pakistan. We saw people who had lost most of what they own, living in makeshift tent camps. We saw trucks loaded with entire villages of people and their few belongings. And this group of people, as desperate as their need was, wanted to help others."

In another location, residents of one camp fought with residents of another camp across the road when the second group received food, water and children's shoes from a relief team, Horton said.

With monsoon season far from over and a second flood crest moving down the Indus River, the disaster in Pakistan — and the human suffering — will continue to grow, Horton said.

"The mass of humanity this flood has moved is astounding," Horton wrote. "The breadth of this disaster is staggering — and it continues. The second crest of the river is supposed to arrive in lower Sindh this week, which will cause even more flooding.

"There are several places where landowners have broken the levies in order to divert water away from their land," Horton added. "This has caused floodwaters to race toward towns and villages that would have otherwise remained dry."

Pakistan's army and humanitarian organizations have set up tent camps to receive internally displaced people, but many families are simply living on the roadside, under trees on a flat piece of ground that looks like it will remain dry, Horton said. He has conducted disaster relief workshops with Pakistani believers, and BGR partners in the country are discussing the possibility of going with villagers when they return to their homes to help with longer-term rehabilitation efforts.

Additional funding is still urgently needed according to disaster relief teams. The immense scope of the disaster means relief effort costs continue to climb, but donations are lagging far behind.

Relief workers risk lives in Pakistan flood chaos

Several ministry partners have been beaten and three have died in rain-swollen rivers. Chaos often is erupting when limited food supplies are delivered to multitudes of hungry people.

"Since it's an evolving situation, things are unfolding. Our estimate has gone up and now eight million are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance," U.N. spokesman Maurizio Giuliano told reporters Aug. 19.

An estimated one-fifth of the country is underwater and monsoon rains continue to fall. According to the UN, 20 million people have been affected and 6 million are in urgent need of food aid — more than double the number of people affected by the 2004 tsunami and the Haiti earthquake combined.

Flood survivors mobbed relief trucks carrying food and authorities warn famine could sweep the northwest region unless farmers get immediate help planting new crops, news reports said. The country has been flooding for three weeks but conditions do not seem to be improving for most of the 20 million people — one in nine Pakistanis — who have lost homes, possessions, crops, livestock and loved ones.

World Vision began an emergency food distribution in the area, giving out food parcels containing milk, bread, snacks, biscuits, and water to 1,000 families at that school and others nearby. The parcels are benefiting around 7,000 people.

Millions have been affected in Pakistan and more rain is forecast.

“People don’t need one thing; they need literally everything. And the number of people in need is so massive,” said Shaharyar Bangash, World Vision’s program manager in Pakistan. “Thousands of homes are destroyed, and the ones still standing are full of mud and will need to be cleaned before families can return.”

Southern Baptists have responded with $225,000 in relief and hunger funds and are working with national ministry partners to deliver supplies to people in need, said Francis Horton, who with his wife, Angie, directs work in South Asia for Baptist Global Response, an international relief and development organization.

"We are meeting with several partners, trying to get an assessment of needs that have been met and needs that we can meet," Horton said in an Aug. 17 e-mail from Pakistan. "Our national partners are doing a great job in helping people. The task is huge. The disaster grows. Housing is a huge need.

"Three national partners have died and one is in critical condition after falling into the river," Horton added. "There has been some unrest in some places. I have seen reports of partners being beaten and one team leader told me chaos has broken out at a couple of places as people reached with their bare hands into the serving pots to get food.

"The UN has said that this disaster has affected more people than the past few earthquakes and tsunami combined," Horton continued. "Much like Katrina, there has been a limited but tragic number of people killed. Millions more became homeless and helpless. Caring for millions of survivors is incredibly difficult."

One national ministry partner wrote Horton to explain what conditions are like for relief workers on the front lines of the disaster:

"The situation is getting bad day by day. Flood-affected people lost all their things. Many people, especially children, lost their lives. Thousands of people going towards death because of after-flood shortage of clean and drinking water, food, and medicines," the partner wrote.

As the flood swept into villages, people ran for their lives, leaving possessions and even other family members behind, the partner reported. When survivors returned to see who was left in need of rescue, they saw many people trapped in their houses and on trees, crying "Save us! Save us!"

"Unfortunately, we could not save them because we were helpless," the partner wrote. "Slowly, slowly, many people washed away in the flood in front of our eyes.... People were drowning in the water and some of their houses were collapsed on them. After two days, some people arranged boats, then we start to rescue the people who were alive in the water."

The ministry partner reported seeing "hundreds and hundreds" of dead bodies in the water.

"It seems to us very dreadful, then we saved around 600 men and 425 women with their children," the partner said. "Our team leaders decided to find one local village leader to discuss how to find a better way to help the people. The workers found the local village leader and introduced themselves. They told him about their idea how to help with his people."

When the village leader agreed with their plan, the workers asked him to provide some people from the village to help. A total of 460 men responded, and they were immediately given training in the rudiments of disaster relief.

Food and shelter are huge needs right now, with tents in short supply, Horton said. Relief workers are exploring other options for shelter, such as providing materials for construction of temporary shelters. They also are exploring ways to help people restore their crops and livestock.

World Vision plans to scale up its distributions to reach more families with food parcels (including wheat flour, sugar, tea, cooking oil, salt, rice, lentils, and dates), cooking sets, hygiene kits, and shelter kits. They have also opened an emergency health clinic to help address concerns over outbreaks of waterborne illness.

While reports indicated the flow rate of flooded rivers has slowed, the flood crest is expected to hit lower Sindh province about Aug. 21, Horton said.

The urgent needs for food, clean water, and safe shelter continue to increase, especially for the most vulnerable.


Christian Examiner staff contributed to this report


• Baptist Global Response www.gobgr.org
• World Vision Pakistan Flood Relief

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