Pakistan Flood Emergency Response

Relief International currently operates out of twelve offices across the Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtoonwa (KPK) and Punjab provinces of Pakistan, employing over 300 highly qualified and specialized staff. A wide range of staff expertise, from medical professionals to agricultural specialists, allows RI to respond comprehensively to the needs of Pakistan’s many development sectors. Currently, Relief International’s efforts in Pakistan are centered on the country’s most recent of emergencies – the devastating floods of 2010. Relief International has provided emergency relief to over 100,000 flood-affected families to date, and continues to assist communities on the road to recovery.

Overview of Our Current and Ongoing Programs in Pakistan:

Agriculture & Food Security
As a long-time food security and agricultural rehabilitation actor in the Balochistan and KPK provinces, Relief International ensures that families have an immediate source of food supplies in times of emergency. Since the first week of 2010 flooding, Relief International has provided one-month food supplies to tens of thousands of flood-affected families across eight districts in Pakistan. Food for work, food for training, and livestock and agricultural rehabilitation programs were carried out by Relief International pre-flood and will continue to address overall food insecurity as flood recovery moves forward.

Health & Nutrition
Since 2005, Relief International has provided Emergency and Primary health and nutrition services to thousands of individuals in Pakistan. Most recently, Relief International mobilized health clinics in response to flooding in remote areas of KPK and Balochistan. Each clinic treats approximately 200 patients per day. Relief International’s approach to health services in Pakistan places particular emphasis on mothers and children, often the most vulnerable groups when disaster strikes. For example, Relief International is working to combat malnutrition in KPK through nutritional screenings and targeted feeding and education activities for children under five, as well as pregnant and nursing women. Relief International is also leading an innovative public health initiative with local veterinary and human health leaders to enhance disease response capabilities.

Education
In addition to rehabilitation of school infrastructure, Relief International is helping to combat high illiteracy rates and the absence of libraries in many schools. By providing schools and communities with new books, Relief International provides a vital community resource that broadens students’ access to knowledge and augments educational opportunities for individuals and the community as a whole.

Infrastructure
Relief International is involved in infrastructure projects across Pakistan, focusing on the rehabilitation of small-scale community infrastructures such as clinics and irrigation systems that are essential to everyday life. Relief International also places high importance on the restoration of educational infrastructure, including technical schools, universities and primary schools. Relief International has constructed eight new primary schools currently serving approximately 1,000 children, with plans to build an additional 35 that will ultimately serve 5,000 students.

Shelter
Relief International successfully constructed about 2,500 temporary shelters for conflict-affected internally displaced persons seeking to return to the KPK province in 2009 and early 2010, and is now building another 5,450 emergency shelters across Punjab, KPK, and Balochistan for vulnerable families who lost their homes in the 2010 floods. Relief International constructs emergency shelters using locally-procured materials, keeping climate and cultural specificities in mind, particularly for women. In Relief International shelter programs, priority is given to vulnerable candidates such as the disabled.

Water & Sanitation (WASH)
Relief International has prioritized WASH activities in its emergency response efforts in order to reduce the spread of waterborne and communicable diseases, which can be drastically heightened by a lack of clean drinking water and hygiene services. Relief International’s current flood-response WASH activities include testing existing water sources for contamination, providing households with chlorine tablets for water purification, cleaning drinking wells, constructing emergency pit latrines, and providing communities with hygiene kits and hygiene education.

Links:

• Pakistan Programs