Pakistan is a country prone to natural disasters, and its mountainous North-West areas have seen much relief activity over the past decade.

Since 1992, World Vision has primarily focused on small-scale relief interventions in Pakistan. A programming support component was added in 2001, when World Vision Pakistan (WVP) began working with partners in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Punjab Province with emergency relief assistance and community development initiatives. The 2005 torrential rains and heavy snowfall in Swat, Kohistan, Shangla and Mansehra prompted World Vision to support local NGOs in their relief effort.

After the devastating October 2005 earthquake, WVP used airdrops and human convoys to move relief supplies. Our emergency and relief intervention reached 45,186 quake-affected households. Some 284,821 beneficiaries received non-food items (winterised tents, blankets, tarpaulins, stoves, water containers and water purification kits, hygiene kits, and shelter and construction materials). About 3,743 metric tones of food supplies were distributed to 95,401 people. Fifty villages benefited from food-for-work and food-for-training projects on debris clearance, road rehabilitation, and construction of walking tracks and animal shelters.

In 2007, WVP started to work through partner organisations to respond to the critical situation of flood-affected people in the southern provinces of Balochistan and Sindh. Communities in five districts benefited from WV’s intervention targeting health, water and sanitation, education, and psycho-social support.

WVP joins the country’s government, civil authorities, and international community, in the transition to recovery and rehabilitation, leading to long-term commitment to supporting sustainable development.