Roughly 660,000 people are living in refugee camps in the wake of high waters that have wrought havoc for several weeks in southern Pakistan. About 8.9 million people have been affected by the floods, which have destroyed 1.5 million homes in 37,000 villages in Sindh province alone.
Columban Sister Rebecca Conlon writes:
"Pakistan is in crisis from all sides. Our province of Sindh is still under water where 80% of the cotton crop and 60% of the rice crop are ruined while the Punjab is hit with an epidemic of dengue fever that has spread here to Sindh.
As we try to respond to the needs around us and hopefully avoid the dengue mosquito, it is heart wrenching to see the plight of the people. Marie and Perlita are still covering Kunri, trying to reach the forgotten … who are legion … they have distributed food packages to people and have covered a radius of 800 km to date.
We, Roberta and I, in Hyderabad city, found people abandoned and have tried to answer needs but find it dangerous because of the level of anger and frustration among the people. We distributed food and bedding with Jawed our Project Manager and admitted a child for treatment as his younger sister had already died from malnutrition. We located this family through BBC World News."
Ucanews reports: Church and aid officials held a press conference in Rawalpindi to address long-term community preparedness to ease the damage caused by recurring floods.
Father Bonnie Mendes, regional coordinator for Caritas Asia, said more needs to be done to keep villagers in flood-affected areas safe.
"Their houses are swept away every year. The authorities should shift them to higher and safer ground and grant them land on easy installments," he said on the sidelines of the press conference.
"The donors cannot help the affected people again and again. The climate across the globe is changing and people must be relocated."
St Elizabeth Hospital flood devastation in Pakistan video
00:01:34 | Oct 06, 2011
A collection of photos demonstrating the devastation of the Pakistan floods that reached St Elizabeth Hospital in September 2011. Photos sourced from Columban Fr Robert McCulloch.
Please keep the people of Pakistan in your prayers.
Fr Robert McCulloch SSC has been a missionary in Pakistan since 1978.
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