Media CenterCRS Responds to Devastating Floods in Pakistan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Megan Gilbert
Catholic Relief Services
[email protected]
(443) 825-3640
 

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, Sept. 1, 2022 – As persistent heavy rainfall is causing catastrophic flooding in Pakistan, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is working with the government and local partners, including Caritas Pakistan, to meet the most urgent needs of the people impacted. Since the rain and flooding began in July, more than 1,100 people have been killed and nearly 950,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed.

“The people living in the districts I visited were already marginalized,” said Gul Wali Khan, CRS emergency response coordinator in Pakistan. “Now they have become even more vulnerable in terms of their shelter and livelihoods. With the impact of the flood and the rain, we have seen people lose the food they planned to use over the next few months.”

CRS is working in the most affected provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan, where 86% of the people impacted by the floods live. In assessments of 25 communities in those provinces, CRS and partner Community Development Foundation found 72% of water systems are damaged or destroyed and 79% of people have no food left. CRS’ immediate support includes cash for thousands of families to help cover their most urgent needs, with future plans to provide shelter, restore livelihoods and access to clean water.

“People who depend on rain-fed agriculture lost everything,” Khan said. “The seeds they planted are all gone. Normally the people in these areas borrow from shopkeepers and traders, and now they will go further into debt.”

Where the water has receded, families are clearing debris and mud from their homes and protecting livestock from mosquitoes, which were a main killer of large animals in the 2011 flooding. Critical infrastructure like roads and bridges have been washed away, making access to and from impacted areas challenging. Nearly 1800 miles of roads have been damaged as well as 129 bridges and shops.

“With winter coming we need to make sure people are able to get to places like markets,” Mohammed Adam Hamid, acting CRS country manager in Pakistan said. “The other issue is clean water. The usual water supplies have been damaged or are unreachable, which means people have to walk double or triple the distance to collect water.”

The two main canals in Sindh and Baluchistan have been breached, which created massive devastation in 2010 and 2012 in Pakistan.

“People are worried,” Khan said. “They are worried about their lives, their livelihoods. And they are grieving.”

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Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The agency alleviates suffering and provides assistance to people in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding. For more information, visit www.crs.org or www.crsespanol.org and follow Catholic Relief Services on social media in English at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube; and in Spanish at: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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