BANGALORE, India (CNS) Church charities in Pakistan are gearing up for prolonged relief and rehabilitation work as the South Asian nation is faced with the worst flood in its history. "With continuing rains and floods spreading to more areas, the challenge before us is growing by the day," Carolyn Fanelli, head of programming and acting country representative for Catholic Relief Services in Pakistan, told Catholic News Service Aug. 10 from her office.
"We have already distributed emergency relief material to 6,400 people and our target is being regularly revised upward," she said.
The devastating floods that began in late July in the mountainous north under incessant monsoon rains have claimed more than 1,600 lives and affected more than 13 million people.
The United Nations reported Aug. 9 that the floods have affected more people than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 earthquake in the Kashmir region of Pakistan and the January earthquake in Haiti combined.
Fanelli noted that floodwaters are expanding into new regions, including the plain provinces of Punjab and Sindh, forcing the agency to raise its estimates of people needing assistance. She said the agency may need to provide emergency shelter and hygiene supplies to as many as 100,000 people.
"We were able to distribute nearly 100 relief kits as the fresh supplies reached us," said Nasrullah Khan, head of the CRS office in mountainous Besham, 185 miles north of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.
"Our staff have covered up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) on foot to remote areas where the people are in great suffering. Mules remain the only option for us to (get) the material to those in remote areas made inaccessible by landslides," Khan told CNS Aug. 10.
CRS has already started a cash-for-work program in the mountainous region to repair the drinking water supply system the agency built after the 2005 earthquake.
"Ironically, though water caused all the problems, people are struggling for water now. They have to walk miles to fetch drinking water," Fanelli said.
As the flood-affected area grows, roads and bridges have been washed away and much of the country’s communication network has been destroyed. An official of Caritas Pakistan said some supplies, including plastic sheeting for shelter, water purification tablets, cooking utensils and food items, have gotten through.
"The destruction and human suffering caused by the floods is colossal. Thousands have nothing left and are living in the open," Anila J. Gill, national executive secretary of Caritas Pakistan, told CNS from her office in Lahore.
Gill said all Catholic dioceses in Pakistan are involved in the relief work. By Aug. 9, the agency had assisted 4,800 families with tent materials, and hygiene and kitchen kits.
"For the next three months, we will concentrate on the relief work," Gill explained. "The people are in trauma. The challenge now is to support them to survive and overcome the tragedy."
An outbreak of disease and diarrhea because of the lack of safe drinking water is affecting the population in flooded areas.
"Medical personnel have not reached many areas and our challenges are increasing day by day," Gill said.
Meanwhile, Caritas Korea is preparing to send $30,000 to its sister organization in Pakistan to help with relief efforts, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News.
"The money will be sent to Pakistan as soon as possible," said Theresa Kim Jou-yeon, the agency’s public relations officer.
"It’s unfortunate that we have already used much of our urgent relief funds. We sent $400,000 to aid the earthquake victims in Haiti and $50,000 to Chile earlier this year," she said.