Plan is helping Pakistan's flood victims

A truck makes its way through floodwaters.

Plan has moved quickly to help thousands of vulnerable families and their children affected by Pakistan’s worst floods in living memory.

Heavy rain is continuing to fall along the River Indus, with South Punjab and Sindh provinces next in line as the disaster moves downstream.

Over the coming days Plan emergency response staff will provide support to an initial 100,000 people in the six most affected districts of Southern Punjab and Sindh Provinces.

Plan International Australia’s Disasters Manager Rohan Kent says this will include shelter, food, water and health and hygiene kits, with a special focus on psychosocial support for women and children.

Children are among the most affected when a disaster strikes and Plan’s responses will also include child protection measures, says Mr Kent.

“Comprehensive child protection measures must be incorporated into responses made by relief organisations,” says Mr Kent. “Children are particularly vulnerable in an emergency as normal family and community coping mechanisms are often weakened and sometimes completely removed.”

An outbreak of diarrhoea and cholera is also now a real fear; Plan staff are in talks with authorities in an effort to quickly establish mobile health clinics.

Plan is urgently seeking $5 million to support work with affected communities and to prepare communities downstream for the impact of the approaching floodwaters.

With the global focus currently on the north-western regions of Pakistan, there is a great danger that the crisis could escalate as the waters move downstream to vulnerable Provinces.

“Resources among the rescue services are limited in South Punjab – there’s even a shortage of fuel for boats,” says Rashid Javed, Acting Country Director of Plan Pakistan.

In the district of Layyah alone, 400,000 people are on the move with more rain expected over the next three to four days.

“The evacuation is particularly distressing for children,” says Mr Javed. “Water is waist deep at least and it’s still raining heavily.

“The valley is acting like a huge funnel with water spilling out from the River Indus and its tributaries into the towns and villages.

“The pressure of the water and the damage it can do is unimaginable. One person I was talking to compared it to standing in front of an aeroplane’s propeller.”

Donations to Plan’s relief work can be made online to Plan’s Children in Crisis Fund or by calling 13 75 26.

Plan has been working in Pakistan since 1997. Find out more about Plan’s work in Pakistan.

ENDS

INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:

Two staff members from Plan International Australia have experience working in the affected regions of Pakistan and can comment on the current crisis.

Disasters Manager Rohan Kent worked in north-west Pakistan in 2009 during the civil conflict that displaced hundreds of thousands of people. He is currently overseeing Plan International Australia’s response to the Pakistan floods.

Child Protection in Emergencies Specialist Amalia Fawcett worked in north-west Pakistan after the massive 2005 earthquake. She can comment on the importance of child protection in the midst of the current emergency, and the unique cultural sensitivities that must be considered.

To speak to Rohan Kent or Amalia Fawcett, contact:

David Cook
Media Officer
Plan International Australia
Mob: 0448 816 900
Ph: 03 9672 3652
Email: david.cook@plan.org.au