THE ‘FLOOD OF THE CENTURY’
UNICEF is responding to the biggest flood Pakistan has seen in 100 years. One-fifth of the country is under water and over 15 million people affected, half of whom are children in critical need of our help.
With floodwaters still spreading, whole towns evacuated and more rains expected, the potential for even greater tragedy grows by the minute.
The tragedy that is unfolding now, especially for small children, is a terrible decent into diarrhoea, dehydration and death. Over 200,000 cases of acute diarrhoea have already been confirmed, as well as skin diseases (263,000) and acute respiratory infection (over 200,000). For those that survive, malnutrition is a real threat. We urgently need your help.
Wherever people can find a bit of high ground, they are huddled together under bits of cloth and plastic. Around them, stagnating water and sweltering temperatures are creating perfect conditions for the spread of malaria, diarrhoea and other diseases. We cannot allow those who have survived drowning to die of disease.
We need your help today to respond to this crisis. Please donate now, using the form on the right or fundraise and get your friends and family involved.
SAVING CHILDREN’S LIVES
UNICEF is on the ground working tirelessly to provide emergency life-saving provisions to the millions of children. We have been in Pakistan since 1948, so are expertly placed to respond.
Reaching some 2 million people every day with clean water, and have distributed 3 million water purification tablets to other families;
Immunised 800,000 children against deadly diseases;
Restored 490 water supply systems;
Distributed more than 49,000 hygiene kits benefitting over 343,000 people;
Child friendly spaces have been established to provide psychosocial support to children, and to reunite children with families;
21 diarrhoea treatment centres have been established, with a further 45 planned;
UNICEF has delivered supplies for approximately 5 million affected people at risk from waterborne disease. These include Oral Rehydration Salts and Zinc which help treat diarrhoea;
Provided mobile medical services to reach stranded children and pregnant women at risk of malnutrition and disease; and
Delivering school-in-a box and recreational kits.
We are doing all we can to prevent further deaths, but need your support. Please help us reach as many families as we can. Any amount you give will help save lives.
Read this inspirational blog by Dr. Arshad Durani about how his family escaped the floods, and how he is helping to provide health care desperately needed by the children of his village.
And here is Noor Jehan’s real-life story – she’s a mother with a young son who evacuated from her flooded village, leaving her husband behind. She is desperately worried about the future.
CRUCIAL NEEDS – FOOD SCARCITY
With the death toll rising, one of the biggest threats is the outbreak of waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera, to which children are especially vulnerable.
Another issue we are really concerned about is food security. Crops and food stocks have been swept away by flood water. UNICEF is providing emergency food, but issues of food scarcity and malnutrition are real risks in the long-term. Weeks of emergency relief and still ahead, followed by months of rehabilitation.
The devastation is not over – far from it. The flood wave continues to make its way through the southern province of Sindh, where millions are expected to suffer from the combined impact of continuing rains and unprecedented water levels in the rivers.
Please help the children of Pakistan with an emergency gift. Make an urgent donation today, using the form on the right or fundraise and get your friends and family involved.
