Pakistan storms

Information provided ACT member Church World Service (Pakistan/Afghanistan)

ACT response: Church World Service (Pakistan/Afghanistan) carried out its first relief distribution on Monday July 2 in Gadap, after two assessments last week. 250 food packages containing basic food items such as rice, pulses, cooking oil, and sugar have been delivered to families affected by the storms. Priority is given to the most vulnerable community members.

At the weekend, over 1 000 residents from Gadap broke into the Union Council office causing significant damage, as a vent for frustrations about the lack of intervention from the government. However, the distribution was carried out peacefully in collaboration with the district authorities.

As CWS –P/A is one of the few humanitarian agencies working in the area, people have welcomed the much-needed help. Hazri, a widow from the village Bohri in Gadap, told the team that she has three young children and that her house was severely damaged by the heavy rains. As the family has no relatives to accommodate them and no other place to live, they are currently living out in the open air.  Although the food package has helped, she is still without means of reconstructing her house.  More bad weather has been forecast for the next few days.

Similarly, Muhammad Musa, an 80 year old man from the village Neik, is having to live in the ruins of his house with his family, after the roof and walls caved in. He said that his family had not had food over the last three days and that the food received meant that they did not have to go hungry.

A distribution of 250 plastic sheets for aiding shelter will take place later this week in Gadap, while further distributions in Thatta and Turbat are planned for the coming days.

100,000 people have been displaced across flood affected areas in Sindh, with the local media reporting ten more deaths on Monday, July 2.   Due to continuous rains, local authorities report that in many areas flood waters have washed away houses and property. The rain hampered rescue operations in other districts like Dadu, where thousands of people from 300 villages were waiting to be evacuated.

CWS-P/A, along with Oxfam, concluded an assessment in Turbat and Gwadar in Balochistan, where it is estimated that 1.5 million people have been affected by the cyclone.  100,000 people have been made homeless, and more than 300 people are still reported as missing.  The chair of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) stated that 15, 000 soldiers have been deployed in flood affected areas.

Elsewhere, in Kala Dhaka village, North West Frontier Province, where CWS–P/A is carrying out their earthquake rehabilitation program, four flood-related deaths have been reported. The storms and rain on Sunday and Monday nights affected Sadu Khan village, where houses collapsed due to the flooding of the water channel.  This also resulted in a loss of 100 livestock. A monitoring team is visiting the area today (July 4), with the view to distributing food packages where necessary.