Humanitarian crisis escalates in Pakistan; UNITED SIKHS to rehabilitate flood victims
As catastrophic floods leave trails of devastation and destitution in Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, picture of squalor pervades — starving children and elderly persons, men and women, suffering from infections and disease. The humanitarian situation is getting more critical and grimmer as the number of houses washed away reaches 1.1 million. Several areas still remain inaccessible.
While the international community learned about the scale of the devastation in Pakistan, UNITED SIKHS responded quickly to deliver humanitarian and medical aid as our teams have already been working at the grassroots level providing humanitarian and advocacy assistance to the underprivileged and minority communities in the country for more than a decade.
UNITED SIKHS mobilized resources to provide food in the camps of Charsadda district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Our teams are extending assistance in Bagan Wah in Kashmore district in Sindh as well, where more than 200 families have become homeless. Our volunteers provided hundreds of meals, water bottles, and mosquito kits in the village. UNITED SIKHS medical aid team led by our volunteer Dr Sagarjeet Singh, has also provided treatment to over 400 patients suffering from malaria, gastroenteritis, skin disease, and other medical conditions in the area.
We are organizing a 3-day medical aid camp in Kalam valley of Swat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The humanitarian aid comprises food packets for 500+ families in the valley.
Our teams are in constant contact with the government to provide air access to Jafarabad in Balochistan province to let our teams set up a tent city to support displaced families. Floods have wrecked roads, bridges and houses in and around the district.
“Our teams are working swiftly to assess and provide humanitarian assistance and medical aid in several districts, as more areas become accessible. We are working round-the-clock, to reach maximum people in the shortest possible time,” said Herdyal Singh, Project Director, UNITED SIKHS Pakistan. He said that our teams are working on a multi-pronged approach for rehabilitation options that may include rebuilding homes, purchasing cattle that families have lost and we are also looking into opening vocational training centers for youth.
“Grassroots-level experience of UNITED SIKHS Pakistan team, along with our global expertise providing humanitarian aid during disasters is enabling us to provide assistance and medical aid in the flood affected areas quickly. The teams are working in close coordination, prioritizing areas where no humanitarian aid has been reaching,” Gurvinder Singh, UNITED SIKHS Humanitarian Aid Director said.
