Help for Pakistan's flood victims

Young children who have been driven from their homes by the floods in Multan, PakistanA child walks across the muddy ground after the floods in Multan, PakistanBishop Andrew Francis with young victims of the floods in Multan, PakistanBishop Andrew Francis comforts flood victims in Multan, PakistanBishop Andrew Francis talks to a family seeking refuge after the floods in Multan, PakistanBishop Andrew Francis encouraging a young girl to smile after the floods in Multan, PakistanBishop Andrew Francis helps distribute aid to crowds of flood victims in Multan, PakistanChildren carry aid to flood victims in Multan, Pakistan

Young children who have been driven from their homes by the floods in Multan, Pakistan

A child walks across the muddy ground after the floods in Multan, Pakistan

Bishop Andrew Francis with young victims of the floods in Multan, Pakistan

Bishop Andrew Francis comforts flood victims in Multan, Pakistan

Bishop Andrew Francis talks to a family seeking refuge after the floods in Multan, Pakistan

Bishop Andrew Francis encouraging a young girl to smile after the floods in Multan, Pakistan

Bishop Andrew Francis helps distribute aid to crowds of flood victims in Multan, Pakistan

Children carry aid to flood victims in Multan, Pakistan

Aid to the Church in Need has made a number of emergency aid payments to help bishops, priests and Sisters in Pakistan respond to the floods that have devastated the country.

The aid is helping to provide essential food, medicine and shelter to thousands of people who have lost everything in the disaster.

The floods were the worst to hit the country in 80 years. Now Church leaders are warning of the threat of starvation and a cholera epidemic.

Bishop Max Rodrigues of Hyderabad told Aid to the Church in Need: “Tough days lie ahead of us. Since millions of people have lost everything and don’t have money, people may face starvation.

“The aftermath of the floods may be worse. God help us.”

He added: “The scale of the disaster has been so unimaginably large that it seemed impossible to reach out to all the affected victims of the flood.”

However, the bishop and other Church leaders across the country have put into action emergency plans, with the following help from Aid to the Church in Need:

Amount

Region

Help being provided
£41,100 Sindh Province, south-east Pakistan Food, including flour, cooking oil, sugar and dhal; water purification tablets; mosquito nets
£20,450 Multan, Punjab Province, east Pakistan Food, including high energy biscuits and dry milk biscuits; washing soap and powder; medicine kits; mineral water; tents
£12,270 Quetta, Baluchistan Province, west Pakistan Help for flood refugees: food including flour, cooking oil, lentils, sugar and tea; medical aid to combat fever, constipation and diarrhoea

£12,270

Nowshera, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, east Pakistan

Food; bedding; clothing; medical supplies to treat malaria, dysentery, scabies, typhoid and cholera

Government failed to protect poor, says source

Bishop Andrew Francis blesses flood victims in Multan, PakistanBishop Andrew Francis meets a flood victim in Multan, PakistanBishop Andrew Francis with flood victims in Multan, PakistanBishop Andrew Francis with young children affected by the floods in Multan, PakistanBishop Andrew Francis with flood victims in Multan, PakistanBishop Andrew Francis takes to the waters to reach flood victims in Multan, PakistanFlood waters surround a building in Multan, PakistanBishop Andrew Francis with flood victims in Multan, PakistanBishop Andrew Francis visits flood victims in Multan, PakistanBishop Andrew Francis blesses flood victims under a makeshift shelter, Multan, Pakistan

Bishop Andrew Francis blesses flood victims in Multan, Pakistan

Bishop Andrew Francis meets a flood victim in Multan, Pakistan

Bishop Andrew Francis with flood victims in Multan, Pakistan

Bishop Andrew Francis with young children affected by the floods in Multan, Pakistan

Bishop Andrew Francis with flood victims in Multan, Pakistan

Bishop Andrew Francis takes to the waters to reach flood victims in Multan, Pakistan

Flood waters surround a building in Multan, Pakistan

Bishop Andrew Francis with flood victims in Multan, Pakistan

Bishop Andrew Francis visits flood victims in Multan, Pakistan

Bishop Andrew Francis blesses flood victims under a makeshift shelter, Multan, Pakistan

The help comes as Church sources claimed that government authorities in Sindh province had refused to bolster flood defences in areas where there were a large number of minority groups.

One source told Aid to the Church in Need: “It was not just incompetence on the part of the authorities to protect the poorest of the poor from potential floods.

‘It was their deliberate intention that they should suffer if floods were to take place.”

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