Episcopal Relief & Development Responds to Flooding in Pakistan

Episcopal Relief & Development will be contributing through the ACT Alliance’s general appeal for those affected by the recent flooding in Pakistan. Disaster response activities will help vulnerable people in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh.

After three weeks of what appear to be the heaviest monsoon rains in 35 years, over a third of Pakistan is now under water. This flooding is the worst natural disaster in the country’s history. Beginning in the northern part of the country, the waters are continuing to move downstream, affecting major parts of the country in the south as well. According to recent estimates, nearly 14 million people are affected, and the figures are rising. The death toll has reached over 1,600 and around 2 million people are homeless.

“The scale of this disaster is tremendous,” said Nagulan Nesiah, the International Program Officer overseeing Episcopal Relief & Development’s response. “Especially for those who are more at risk in a disaster, like women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities, the need for relief is great.”

The emergency relief provided by ACT’s on-the-ground partners in Pakistan seeks to address the most basic needs of those affected by the flooding. ACT is working through local implementing partners to provide food and other critical items to over 86,500 people, shelter kits for 25,500 persons, and health care to 36,500 individuals.

In a place where food insecurity is already widespread and the celebration of Ramadan has led to price increases, food aid is especially important at this time. The food kits being distributed include rations of wheat flour, rice, cooking oil, pulses, sugar, tea and salt. In addition, families are being provided with jerry cans, plastic buckets, kitchen sets, mosquito nets, hygiene kits and plastic floor mats and sheeting to protect against the rain.

“Our prayers are with the millions of people who are affected by the flooding,” Nesiah said, “and we pray for the aid workers in the region who are helping to bring relief to those in need.”

Pakistan floods: Church World Service delivers aid amid massive obstacles

ELCA Disaster Response has committed $100,000 to the CWS appeal to respond in Pakistan.  This is a recent news release from CWS on the situation.

With more than 3.2 million people displaced or affected by monsoon rains and the worst flooding in north Pakistan in nearly a century, global humanitarian agency Church World Service has announced a U.S. and international fundraising appeal.

The agency reports that its aid workers in the region are continuing their initial response, providing food packages, shelter materials and non-food supplies. In addition, one mobile health unit has been dispatched so far, delivering emergency health services in Balakot.

CWS Pakistan team members report an increasing need for assistance, and say blocked roadways and communications continue to hamper aid workers from reaching cut-off survivors with vital food and supplies.

CWS Pakistan Senior Project Officer Tassaduq Hussain described the situation in Banna, Allai Tehsil, saying lack of communications and passable roads continues to hinder access to elevated areas of Allai. “Here, there is major food shortage in markets, and the condition for the people is not good.”

Hussain said teams are hoping roads will reopen today, although more rain is expected. He said the most immediate needs are food packages and shelter materials.

Elsewhere, from Sibbi, Balochistan, CWS Pakistan Senior Project Officer Saleem Dominic reported a similar situation. “Food is the initial, immediate need, with hygiene and shelter next. Houses are completely destroyed and flood water remains in the houses, which poses health risks,” Dominic said.

CWS is the first organization to distribute food in Sibbi, “for which the people are very grateful,” said Dominic.

Assessments by CWS and partners indicate survivors face grave challenges given the loss of housing, crops and livestock. Most of the affected villages are still inundated, and people in general have little to eat and no means to earn money.

CWS, other humanitarian groups and Pakistan government officials are voicing concern over the destruction of some 100,000 acres of fertile soil along the Swat River, a main source for food for 50,000 people in the area, which will take years to renew.

But for now, urgent rescue and relief continues. Church World Service plans a response to a wide geographic area, subject to change in the weeks ahead based on changing conditions and needs.

Initial CWS efforts have included providing 500 food and shelter kits in Sibbi, conducting assessments in affected areas and identifying beneficiaries, and engaging the agency’s mobile health clinic services, now providing patient examinations, essential drugs and prenatal care.

Based on assessments conducted by its staff and local partners, CWS plans to provide emergency assistance to 70,000 people in Swat, DI Khan, Sibbi and Kohistan, including food assistance to 35,000 people; emergency shelter supplies to meet the needs of 17,500 people; and mobile health access for 17,500 people in Mansehra and Swat.

Church World Service has worked in Pakistan for more than five decades and is a leading agency in promoting and adhering to international Sphere and Humanitarian Accountability Partnership standards for aid quality and accountability, and as such, focuses keenly on the quality and the nutritional value and mix of the foods distributed in disaster settings.

CWS food packages will be distributed directly to affected families at convenient food distribution points established in each community and consist of 44 lbs. each of wheat flour and rice, 4¼ lbs. each of beans and sugar, 10½ cups of cooking oil, 7 oz. of tea, and a box of iodized salt.

As well, CWS will assess the particular nutrition needs and status of children under 5 years of age in beneficiary families, to determine if supplemental food resources will be required in later weeks.

Church World Service is working with other members of the ACT Alliance Pakistan Forum as part of a coordinated response.  CWS Pakistan also has planned ten introductory Sphere and HAP international standards workshops for humanitarian organizations in different Pakistan cities, to ensure quality and accountability in the Pakistan flood response.

Please print off the PDF document below and read along with us.

You will need a candle and matches for the latter part of the service.
Click on the the first link to download the worship folder in PDF format. (Most computers can read this)
Click on the right facing arrow below to hear the worship service.

Part One:

Part Two:

By Terry Kyllo

Vision of the world

Vision of me

Oh how I long for you

To touch and taste and see

And yet you call me to seek and strive and search

With a peace that passes understanding

And sometimes passes me

You call me to stand in faith in this two-thousand year time of birth

To feel the pangs

To resist the tantalizing tug of despair

To sweat in hope of you

Vision of the world at peace

With all gathered at your holy table of abundance

May your reign come and fill the world with joy

Until then teach me hope

Until then teach me to be human

Until then teach me to stand in the circle with my sisters and brothers

Until then, be my vision

Until then