Christians respond to catastrophic Pakistan floods
For weeks, extremely heavy rains have pounded Pakistan, triggering the worst natural disaster in the impoverished country's history. Crops and farmland have been decimated by flood waters, roads and bridges have been washed away and millions of people are now homeless and facing the threat of disease.
The United Nations hopes to raise $460 million for relief efforts, but the response of the international community has been sluggish and underwhelming. As of August 14, only $93 million had been pledged by donor nations to the Pakistan Initial Floods Response Emergency Plan.
Meanwhile, Christian non-governmental organizations have been quick to respond, delivering life-saving assistance to desperate flood victims.
The unfolding crisis began with the onslaught of fierce monsoons in late July that continued to lash the south Asian country. According to the UN, the resulting floods affected 14 million people and left at least two million without homes.
The death toll is conservatively estimated to be 1,600, but that number will sky-rocket as contact is re-established with isolated regions.
The United Nations warns of a possible second wave of deaths from waterborne diseases such as cholera.
"The scale of this emergency is very large; it is the worst flood that has ever hit Pakistan," says Kelli Siddiqui, head of communications for the Church World Service-Pakistan/Afghanistan (CWS), a Christian humanitarian agency.
Millions of flood victims have nothing left but the clothes on their backs.
"Currently, there is need for basic necessities like tents, blankets, cooking sets, utility containers, soap and bedding, as well as basic healthcare," explains Amjad Pervaiz, president of Idea in Action, a Pakistani Christian organization.
Dave Toycen, president and CEO of World Vision Canada, says, "Children are the most vulnerable in any disaster and the lack of adequate shelter, food, water and healthcare places them at extreme risk."
From the outset of the crisis, writes Toycen in an e-mail, World Vision has "targeted children without parents, providing them with water, milk and biscuits."
World Vision's current relief efforts are focused in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (KPK), the province hardest hit by the disaster.
Toycen points out that World Vision provided "extensive assistance to people in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province immediately after the 2005 earthquake, so we have gained significant expertise in responding to emergencies here."
World Vision has so far delivered food and water to more than 21,000 flood victims in Charsadda and Nowshera districts.
In the next phase of its relief operation, World Vision aims to distribute water purification packets and hygiene kits to 150,000 people, tents to 22,500, cooking items to 75,000 and food to at least 37,500.
The floods have not spared Pakistan's Christian community, which makes up an estimated two per cent of the country's 140 million people, the vast majority of whom are Muslim.
Bishop Wilson John Gill of the United Holiness Church in Pakistan reports that his church and official residence in Lahore have been completely flooded, ruining the furniture and destroying important church documents and records. The roof of a church at Yuhanna Abad collapsed due to the heavy rains.
According to Gill, most of Pakistan's churches are poor and unable to offer assistance to flood victims.
However, Idea in Action stands ready "to work towards relief and reconstruction efforts in flood affected areas," asserts the organization's president.
"Idea in Action staff have extensive training in disease prevention, providing clean water and sewage disposal, as well as establishing temporary schooling facilities so that affected families may have the appearance of a normal life," Pervaiz says.
CWS is already on the ground, distributing food and non-food aid as well as providing preventive and curative health services. Siddiqui estimates that the organization's current and planned aid will reach 237,950 people in KPK, Baluchistan and Sindh provinces.
"Our relief efforts are purely humanitarian in nature," Siddiqui says of his organization's activities in the Muslim-majority country. "We assist people in need irrespective of what religion they belong to."
Similarly, Toycen stresses that World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to helping people on the basis of need. "This means that our assistance is given regardless of race, religion or creed," he insists.
Appealing for Christian unity in this time of crisis, Gill asks the international community to pray for Pakistan.
In the coming weeks and months, Pakistan will also need generous international assistance to avert mass death by disease and starvation. And when the flood waters eventually recede, Pakistan and the international community will face the daunting tasks of restoring farmland, rebuilding villages and regenerating the country's agriculture-based economy.
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