Local Catholic Community Make a Difference in Pakistan
20 August 2010
CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development) Manager in the Clifton Diocese Tony Vassallo writes with important news direct from Pakistan. Locally, the Catholic community in the Clifton Diocese has once again responded generously, donating, at the time this article was prepared, £40,000.
CAFOD has pledged £750,000 from its Emergency Response Fund to the relief effort provided by its Caritas partners in Pakistan.
The worst flooding in Pakistan’s history has caused destruction from the northern mountain regions to wheat fields in the south. At least 1,600 people have been killed and more than 20 million people have been affected by the devastation. They now face new dangers with an estimated 3.5 million children at risk of contracting diarrhoea, cholera and upper respiratory infections through contaminated water and insects.
The floods started in the north and have followed the Indus River, moving south to Sindh and Punjab provinces. Homes, crops and livestock have been destroyed, causing hundreds of thousands of displaced people to seek refuge in the major cities of Karachi and Lahore, already struggling to provide adequate food and shelter for the sudden influx of people.
Key roads and bridges have been washed away, forcing the relief effort to take long, arduous treks over muddy mountain terrain to reach people in remote villages in desperate need of help.
CAFOD’s partner, Catholic Relief Services, has provided emergency kits to about 3,000 households and a total of about 30,000 people in the hard hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the north and in the Kohlu and Barkhan areas of Baloschistan in the southern part of the country. The kits contain cooking sets, water purification tablets, bottled water, plastic sheeting, blankets and soap.
Transitional shelter is also being provided to people in the northern provinces. The simple wooden structures provide adequate housing for the short term as people begin to rebuild their lives.
In one area of the Shangla district in northern Pakistan, five separate water systems damaged by the floods are being repaired by Catholic Relief Services engineers who have years of experience building and repairing water systems in remote mountainous areas of Pakistan, having worked on hundreds of systems following the 2005 earthquake there.
Once immediate needs are met, CAFOD’s partners will help farmers and others resume work and rebuild their lives. In several areas, cash-for-work programmes will be introduced, hiring local people to rebuild roads, clear drainage channels and build small bridges and retaining walls that benefit whole communities.
14 year old Sher Ali, returning to his village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after receiving emergency kits from Caritas said: “Our house was washed away by the floods. We lost my father’s tomb. We also lost our maize and wheat crop and all of our belongings. The flood also washed away irrigation channels, our mosque, and the bridge that connects our community to the Besham road. To get to Besham now after the floods, you must use a rope trolley to get across the raging river. Our family received an emergency kit from Caritas. It is the only help we have received. We lost all of our kitchen utensils and it was difficult to cook and eat, but now with the kitchen utensils provided in the emergency kit we can prepare our food and eat. The plastic sheet, water cooler and soap were the most important items we received. When it rained yesterday we had to use the plastic sheet to take cover and the cooler helps us store and keep our water clean. We need food and shelter now.”
Sher Ali added: “I was working in the local chicken farm and onion orchard giving water to the chickens and watering the trees. I earned 3,000 rupees a month. The chicken farm and the orchard were washed away by the flood, and now I am without a job and money.”
The floods have devastated Pakistan’s already fragile economy, wiping out farmland and sweeping away people, livestock and property. There is growing concern that the planting season in September will be delayed, threatening next year’s crops such as corn, wheat and cotton.
Following Bishop Declan’s call for us to pray for and support the people in Pakistan, the Catholic community in the Clifton Diocese has once again responded with tremendous generosity, donating, at the time this article was prepared, £40,000. Thank you for your compassion, generosity and prayers.
You can support CAFOD’s Pakistan Appeal by donating on 0500 85 88 85, or on the CAFOD website, or by mail to CAFOD Romero House, 55 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7JB.
Tony Vassallo
CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development) Manager in the Clifton Diocese Tony Vassallo writes with important news direct from Pakistan. Locally, the Catholic community in the Clifton Diocese has once again responded generously, donating, at the time this article was prepared, £40,000.
CAFOD has pledged £750,000 from its Emergency Response Fund to the relief effort provided by its Caritas partners in Pakistan.
The worst flooding in Pakistan’s history has caused destruction from the northern mountain regions to wheat fields in the south. At least 1,600 people have been killed and more than 20 million people have been affected by the devastation. They now face new dangers with an estimated 3.5 million children at risk of contracting diarrhoea, cholera and upper respiratory infections through contaminated water and insects.
The floods started in the north and have followed the Indus River, moving south to Sindh and Punjab provinces. Homes, crops and livestock have been destroyed, causing hundreds of thousands of displaced people to seek refuge in the major cities of Karachi and Lahore, already struggling to provide adequate food and shelter for the sudden influx of people.
Key roads and bridges have been washed away, forcing the relief effort to take long, arduous treks over muddy mountain terrain to reach people in remote villages in desperate need of help.
CAFOD’s partner, Catholic Relief Services, has provided emergency kits to about 3,000 households and a total of about 30,000 people in the hard hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the north and in the Kohlu and Barkhan areas of Baloschistan in the southern part of the country. The kits contain cooking sets, water purification tablets, bottled water, plastic sheeting, blankets and soap.
Transitional shelter is also being provided to people in the northern provinces. The simple wooden structures provide adequate housing for the short term as people begin to rebuild their lives.
In one area of the Shangla district in northern Pakistan, five separate water systems damaged by the floods are being repaired by Catholic Relief Services engineers who have years of experience building and repairing water systems in remote mountainous areas of Pakistan, having worked on hundreds of systems following the 2005 earthquake there.
Once immediate needs are met, CAFOD’s partners will help farmers and others resume work and rebuild their lives. In several areas, cash-for-work programmes will be introduced, hiring local people to rebuild roads, clear drainage channels and build small bridges and retaining walls that benefit whole communities.
14 year old Sher Ali, returning to his village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after receiving emergency kits from Caritas said: “Our house was washed away by the floods. We lost my father’s tomb. We also lost our maize and wheat crop and all of our belongings. The flood also washed away irrigation channels, our mosque, and the bridge that connects our community to the Besham road. To get to Besham now after the floods, you must use a rope trolley to get across the raging river. Our family received an emergency kit from Caritas. It is the only help we have received. We lost all of our kitchen utensils and it was difficult to cook and eat, but now with the kitchen utensils provided in the emergency kit we can prepare our food and eat. The plastic sheet, water cooler and soap were the most important items we received. When it rained yesterday we had to use the plastic sheet to take cover and the cooler helps us store and keep our water clean. We need food and shelter now.”
Sher Ali added: “I was working in the local chicken farm and onion orchard giving water to the chickens and watering the trees. I earned 3,000 rupees a month. The chicken farm and the orchard were washed away by the flood, and now I am without a job and money.”
The floods have devastated Pakistan’s already fragile economy, wiping out farmland and sweeping away people, livestock and property. There is growing concern that the planting season in September will be delayed, threatening next year’s crops such as corn, wheat and cotton.
Following Bishop Declan’s call for us to pray for and support the people in Pakistan, the Catholic community in the Clifton Diocese has once again responded with tremendous generosity, donating, at the time this article was prepared, £40,000. Thank you for your compassion, generosity and prayers.
You can support CAFOD’s Pakistan Appeal by donating on 0500 85 88 85, or on the CAFOD website, or by mail to CAFOD Romero House, 55 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7JB.
Tony Vassallo
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