Unprecedented monsoon rains triggered Pakistan’s worst floods in 80 years at the end of July 2010, affecting more than 20 million people across Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (KPK), Sindh, and Punjab provinces. World Vision Taiwan has raised NT$30 million to provide immediate relief in the hardest hit areas.
“The roaring waters made a deafening sound. The pouring torrents from the sky made a frightening rebound to the quietness of the night,” said Shah Izzat Khan who could not forget the night flood waters that took away his home.
There was a big splash and dust swirled up when the row of rooms fell into the river. There was nothing left of his house when the muddy mist subsided. He could only watch helplessly as his whole life's work slid into the river.
Khan had worked hard in Karachi as a baker making bread. The house represented all his life's savings.
“Flood is a lingering disaster. The pain not only stays but comes back with vengeful frequency especially if you are poor,” declared the hapless father of 10 children, five sons and five daughters.
But Khan was no stranger to calamity.
He and his family were also among the 2.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) that were rendered homeless when Pakistan's armed forces carried out an operation to clear the districts of Swat, Buner and Dir from Taliban extremists in May 2009. He and his family spent a very painful six months in Jalozai camp for IDPS before returning back to his home and what he thought would be a peaceful and secure life.
World Vision has reached more than 650,000 people with food, clean drinking water, sanitation, hygiene kits, tents, kitchen utensils, health posts, child-friendly spaces, and women-friendly spaces. World Vision continues to distribute food, run health clinics, provide water and sanitation assistance, run Child-Friendly Spaces and Women and Infant Friendly Spaces across the three worst hit provinces.
World Vision is particularly concerned about the wellbeing of children affected by the floods. Children face added vulnerability after any disaster but particularly in Pakistan, where child protection-related issues such as child labor were of concern to World Vision before the flooding hit.