Massive need persists in Pakistan as floods move south

300 families are now living in this ShelterBox camp in Thatta, Sindh. Photograph: Mark Pearson

There is still a massive need in Pakistan five weeks after the country’s worst flooding in living memory began. The floods have submerged an area bigger than the UK and as they move south they are continuing to cause havoc. Thousands of families are still in urgent need of food, clean water and shelter in Pakistan’s Sindh province.  In the past four days, ShelterBox has provided shelter for thousands of families in Sindh, working in the city of Thatta.

Since Thursday, September 2, 1,290 disaster relief tents have been distributed and eight camps have been established.

A further 500 tents will be distributed in the next 48 hours.

With aid efforts focused in Pakistan’s north, families in the Sindh province have been in desperate need with aid slow to reach them.

1,290 tents have been set up in eight camps since Thursday, September 2. Photograph: Mark Pearson

‘ShelterBox’s Mark Pearson, who is coordinating the field operation, says it is still day one of the catastrophe in Sindh. It’s reached a critical point here,’ he said. ‘The need is massive but there are very few people working here. We’re five weeks into the disaster but it’s still day one here and very much the emergency phase. There are thousands of people still with no shelter, no food and no water.  ‘Next month it’s just going to get worse. As the floodwaters stagnate, mosquitoes will be able to land and breed meaning malaria will be the next disaster to add to the list.

‘We’ve already helped thousands of families and over the next two to three days, with the help of Rotary, Pakistan Red Crescent Society and the NRSP (National Rural Support Programme), we’ll be helping thousands more.’ Large towns north of Karachi, in Pakistan’s south, continue to be evacuated as the floods move further south.
ShelterBox has so far committed enough aid for up to 61,000 people with a further 3,000 tents set to be distributed in partnership with World Vision.