Affected by strong monsoon rains, many provinces in Pakistan have suffered multiple rounds of torrential rains since mid-June this year, causing severe flooding. Since mid-June, the death toll from monsoon rains in Pakistan has risen to 1,314 and the number of injured to 12,703, according to the National Disaster Management Authority of Pakistan on September 4. In the past 24 hours, another 24 people have died in disasters related to torrential rains and floods across Pakistan.
On August 26, the China-Pakistan Youth Exchange Community immediately launched flood relief in Pakistan. The China-Pakistan youth exchange community is a non-governmental team formed spontaneously by Chinese students studying abroad, overseas Chinese and Pakistani youth. (the group was established in 2013. Over the years, it has been committed to people-to-people exchanges, public charity and cultural dissemination, paying attention to vulnerable groups such as poor families, students in need, orphans and the elderly.
Through efforts, the team contacted the China Foundation for Rural Development to jointly establish a platform for action. The China-Pakistan youth exchange community has established a rescue system in Pakistan. The China Foundation forRural Development mainly supports disaster relief operations, resource mobilization, construction of logistics and transport routes from China to Pakistan, and work briefs. Beijing One Heart Sphere Charity Foundation joined the platform on September 5 and plans to raise follow-up materials and medical resources support.
According to the investigation of the front team, the flood in Gilgit mountain area has damaged houses and caused a large loss of daily necessities, which has made the families in economic difficulties worse. Many children have worn out shoes and clothes and are in urgent need of various daily necessities and food supplies. Now that the weather is getting colder, the need for temporary housing has become a major talking point.
Large areas of Baluchistan province are still submerged in floodwaters. As they handed out supplies, the team found families with their homes still submerged and many of their belongings damaged. Disasters and secondary disasters are still developing. At the same time, due to a variety of constraints in Baluchistan, it is difficult to transport materials, and the government also needs support and assistance for roads and security.
Demand is high in Multan, where people need not only food but also feed for their livestock, and many families’ last remaining livestock are their last source of income. There are 800,000 people displaced in the affected areas of Pakistan, but the community can only provide assistance to a very small number of people. Volunteers need to transport supplies into the disaster-hit areas one door after another. To reach the aid as safely and quickly as possible, they need to distribute more times, which is a difficult process.
According to Ma Bin from the China-Pakistan youth exchange community, as of September 5, the community had purchased kitchen utensils, toothpaste soap, infant milk powder, women’s products, rice, flour, oil, salt and other daily necessities for the victims in Multan, Swat, KPK, Gilgit, Baluchistan and other areas. A total of 1,200 grain and oil packs, 600 daily life packages, 11,000 meals were provided, 1,100 tents were built (a resettlement site for 1,100 families will be set up in the future) and 3,000 families were assisted. The China Foundation forRural Development will join forces with the China-Pakistan Youth Exchange Community and the Beijing One Heart Sphere Charity Foundation to support Pakistan’s flood relief efforts.
