UUSC, UUA Launch Pakistan Flood Relief Fund

The massive flooding in Pakistan continues to worsen, compelling UUSC and the Unitarian Universalist Association to launch the UUSC-UUA Joint Pakistan Flood Relief Fund.

The floodwaters are overwhelming relief efforts, and the number of affected people is estimated at 17.2 million and climbing — nearly one-fifth of the country's population. The sheer force of the floodwaters is sweeping away everything in its path, having destroyed 1.2 million homes, thousands of roads and bridges, and 8 million acres of standing crops. Vast areas of the country are under water, and huge numbers of people are on the move in search of food, water, and shelter. The damage is extraordinary and recovery will be long and slow for this country of 170 million people, where one in three lives below the poverty line.

The monsoon flooding began in the north of the country in July, devastating a region that has already suffered in the struggle against the Taliban. The waters expanded the Indus River and its tributaries, deluging huge areas of Sindh and Punjab provinces in the south. The floodwaters have now reached Baluchistan and show no sign of abating. Rains are expected to continue.

The scale of the disaster has caused enormous complications for the global humanitarian response. Areas inaccessible to aid are growing in number, including large expanses in northern Pakistan that have been cut off from aid for weeks. By the beginning of this week, only 1.6 million survivors have received food aid. Just two million survivors have access to clean water. Millions of people have no access to safe drinking water or sanitation, and desperately need food, emergency shelter, and basic health services. The current aid response cannot meet the vast needs of the survivors, of whom nearly half are children.

Two of UUSC's partners are responding to the crisis in Pakistan, with a specific focus on the needs of women and unaccompanied children. Donations to the UUSC-UUA Joint Pakistan Flood Relief Fund will support their work.

• Bedari, which partnered with UUSC in response to the 2005 South Asia earthquake, is working to protect women and children displaced by the floods. Bedari has established a support center in a makeshift camp of 3,000 people in Nowshera. Through Bedari, women can access food and water, and get connected to additional, critical relief aid and services. Unaccompanied children receive help reconnecting with their families. Bedari also encourages women to share their stories and concerns. Psychosocial support is critical in times of disaster, and few organizations have responded to this need in Pakistan. Such discussions also help raise specific concerns that women have, such as the need for feminine sanitary supplies. Bedari is opening another support center in Charsadda and has plans to open two more in Ranjanpur and Muzaffargarh, Punjab.

• Barakat, a UUSC partner in Afghanistan that also works in Pakistan, is helping refugee families who have fled to the district of Attock, Punjab — a town of Afghan refugees. The refugee families are taking in other Afghan refugees whose residences were destroyed in the flooding. Nearly 600 refugees have been newly displaced to Attock. Already marginalized as refugees, they are at risk of being overlooked now in the relief operation. Barakat is providing these survivors with food, water, and cooking supplies. Once the school year begins, Bedari will open up its schools to newly arriving children.

Please consider supporting the UUSC-UUA Joint Pakistan Flood Relief Fund to ensure that women and refugees in Pakistan can access the immediate relief they need. The situation in Pakistan is dire and worsening. Your support can make a big difference.