Updated: 31/01/11
Handicap International is continuing to assist the most vulnerable people affected by the devastating floods in Pakistan.
Six months after the floods first struck, the situation remains very serious: 20 million people have been affected – around one third of the population of the UK, and 170,000 people are still living in camps.
The needs remain considerable: more than 109,000 hectares of land remain underwater in Sindh, the worst affected province.
We have so far helped over 250,000 people but the needs are still great so please give generously.
Just 40 pence provides a day’s worth of drinking water for 1,000 people.
We have deployed a large-scale programme, focsued on improving access to drinking water and sanitation, and distributing emergency aid to meet the basic needs of the victims, who have largely been forgotten. We currently have a team of 500 people on the ground, running 3 main projects:
Providing access to drinking water.
We have set up seven water treatment units, capable of producing drinking water for 150,000 people at 5 litres of water per person per day. More than 150 water distribution points and pumps have also been installed, proving access to drinking water for populations affected by the floods.We are also delivering clean drinking water to camps using water tankers and we are also in the process of handing out 1 million Aquatabs ® (water purification tablets).
Distributing emergency kits. So far, emergency kits have been distributed to 3,000 families identified as being particularly vulnerable, enabling them to purify and store water, to wash and to cook. Our teams are also giving simple hygiene advice to the local population that can help prevent the spread of disease. Temporary shelters have also been distributed.
A ‘cash for work’ project, involving local people in clearing away the waste and debris left behind by the floods, and removing stagnant water from towns, enabling the population to return to the area and limiting the spread of disease.
As winter arrived in November 2010 and the weather began to get cold, Handicap International also distributed cold-weather survival kits, containing blankets and warm clothing, to 3,000 vulnerable families.
Working in Pakistan since 2005, we have previously launched two large-scale emergency missions in the country, most recently in 2009 after 3 million people fled from fighting in the Swat valley between the Taliban and the Pakistani army.
For more information, please visit www.handicap-international.org.uk/what_we_do/emergencies/pakistan_floods
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