Further flooding in 2023
Right now we are seeing heavy monsoon rains hitting Pakistan, pushing reservoirs to maximum capacity and causing flash flooding across Sindh (a southwest province of Pakistan bordering India which was hit badly by the floods last summer) and other areas within Pakistan.
Our partner, Community World Service Asia (CWSA), is a well-respected organisation within Pakistan which we are proud to be working alongside. As a part of their response to the floods, the Mobile Health Units funded by last year's appeal will once again be deployed, offering support to the 700 families impacted by the latest floods.
Please consider making a donation today to Every Second Counts to ensure that silent emergencies like these receive the support they urgently need.
To find out more please contact us directly at ESC@cafod.org.uk or call Roisin on 020 7095 5676.
What happened in Pakistan last year?
In August 2022 record monsoon rains and flash flooding across Pakistan killed at least 1,100 people with millions more displaced from their homes. At it's worst, one third of the country was underwater.
In Sindh province alone, the worst-affected area, the floods killed more than 300 people, with people seeking out whatever dry patches of ground remain along the area’s narrow streets to pitch temporary shelter. People in the area had hardly started recovering from the shock of losing two seasons' worth of crops to the 2020 monsoons, when their crops were again last year completely destroyed.
How has CAFOD responded so far?
Thanks to donations from Every Second Counts CAFOD provided £100,000 of funding to the initial crisis response in 2022, enabling our partner to responded immediately. They met with communities to assess the humanitarian needs and through our Mobile Health Units we were able to go directly to remote areas providing health services to inaccessible areas.
We're proud that a CAFOD-funded Mobile Health Unit has since been transformed to tell stories of some of the survivors of the floods and highlighted by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC). Inspired by meeting families whose lives were devastated by the floods, artist Ali Salman Anchan painted one of the mobile health units funded by CAFOD and deployed by our partner CWSA, using local truck art style to tell stories of hope and resilience.
Now the truck not only provides aid to flood-affected communities as they recover and rebuild their lives, but also celebrates the survivors and brings the work of the health specialists closer to the hearts of communities. Watch the inspirational video above.