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 UK-based disaster relief charity,
ShelterBox, is providing shelter for thousands of families made
homeless in Pakistan following the catastrophic flooding that has
blighted the region.
Torrential monsoon rain over the past five weeks has forced an
estimated five million people from their homes in the Sindh
province.
Mark Pearson, ShelterBox field operations specialist, who
is currently in Baden in Singh province said: 'There are literally
millions of people who are right this second living in appalling
conditions, on roadsides, hillsides, in improvised shelters. These
families are facing enormous threats from waterborne diseases, lack
of food, clean drinking water, proper shelter or medical
facilities.'
ShelterBox, which provides emergency shelter tents and survival
equipment in one box, has been working closely with the National
Rural Support Programme (NRSP), to distribute over 2,840
ShelterBoxes of aid from Badin over the past fortnight. Each
ShelterBox tent can house an extended family, meaning nearly 3,000
of the most vulnerable families now have a safe place to spend the
night.
Mark continues: 'The floods have only worsened the situation
that we witnessed last year. More than 800,000 families remain
without permanent shelter from the 2010 floods. Many of these
families won't have had a chance to rebuild their lives since then
and so have suffered a doubly intense blow from this disaster.
'There is already a dengue fever outbreak in Punjab and
the possibility of it moving south to Sindh is highly likely as
there is so much standing water for the mosquitoes to breed in.
Emergency shelter, water filtration equipment and mosquito nets can
save lives in this kind of environment so it is imperative that we
get more aid into the country sooner rather than later.'
ShelterBox responded to last year's flooding in Pakistan,
sending enough aid for 150,000 people to the region but the charity
is now calling on the general public to donate money to help the
ongoing aid effort.
Mark says: 'Further monsoon rains are forecast for next week
meaning floodwaters won't fall for a while yet. This issue isn't
going away any time soon. We need to put aside politics and
concentrate on the human cost of these natural disasters.'
To support ShelterBox and help provide shelter, warmth and
dignity to families that have been affected by disasters worldwide
please visit www.shelterbox.org
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