Continued flooding is creating a critical situation in southern Pakistan, with local media reports suggesting that millions of people are fleeing areas under threat from the deluge.

“The scale of the response needed by all humanitarian actors is almost incomprehensible,” said Anita Cole, Programme Development and Quality Director for World Vision Pakistan.

“World Vision is moving quickly to mobilise the human and financial resources needed to scale up programmes so we can respond as soon as the immediate danger posed by the flood passes.”

Flood waters have converged in the Indus River, damaging more than 173,000 homes in Upper and Lower Sindh, according to the latest report from Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority. This brings the total number of flood-damaged houses to 875, 562 with more than 5.2 million people affected.
 
Flash floods have occurred in Chilas, caused by another deadly surge of water from the north where the need remains desperate. Gilgit City in the far north has been without electricity for eight days, food is scarce and medicines are short in supply. Disease is on the increase.

World Vision’s current response plan aims to provide aid to 40,000 households, including in the hard-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Sindh and Punjab provinces.

The organisation has already delivered food and water to more than 21,000 people living in school buildings and on roadsides in Charsada and Nowshera.

Distributions of shelter kits, cooking implements and gas cylinders began last week in KPK. Distributions of floor mats, bedding and food kits to families in Charsada, Nowshera and Peshawar will start soon.

The organisation has opened five emergency health clinics and to date has treated more than 1,100 people, as part of its plan to open 7 health posts. World Vision also plans to distribute water purification packets and hygiene kits to 280,000 people to prevent waterborne diseases from spreading further.

World Vision aims to establish cash-for-work activities for 1,000 people, and is planning to set up 20 child-friendly spaces and 20 women-friendly spaces to provide a safe environment for children and women to receive support.
 
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