Bishop Max Rodrigues of Hyderabad speaking on worst disaster in country’s history and Church role in helping flood survivors. The bishop is speaking during his visit to Kotri barrage, Sindh province.
August 30, 2010
Bishop of Hyderabad on Kotri flooding
Bishop Max Rodrigues of Hyderabad speaking on his visit to Kotri barrage, Sindh province.
August 27, 2010
Fears mount for Kotri in Pakistan as flood waters rise
By Patrick Nicholson
I have just been on the phone with Eric Dayal, who is the emergency coordinator for Caritas Pakistan and has been leading the flood response.
He’s in Kotri in southern Sindh province where flood surges are threatening to overflow the embankment. So far the ‘Kotri Barrage’ is holding despite having to cope with an inflow of 950,000 cusecs (cubic metres of water per second). It’s capacity is 875,000 cusecs.
If water overflows the embankment, then the city of Kotri will be flooded. Its 200,000 to 250,00 resident have already been evacuated. The number of people living in the surrounding area who will be affected is much more though.
Eric is with Bishop Max John Rodrigues of Hyderabad to see what response Caritas and the church can make if the worst happens. “We ask for your prayers that Kotri barrage holds against the flood surge this weekend,” said Eric Dayal.
I’m sure all our prayers will be with Kotri and the people of Pakistan this Sunday.
August 27, 2010
Surviving the floods in Pakistan
Caritas was the first aid agency to reach flood victims in Pakistan's Khan Bela, providing tents and other aid. Kamran Chaudhry/Caritas
Heavy rains started to lash as I headed towards the flood hit southern Punjab. Every one inside the bus was concerned for those living in makeshift shelters we passed. The tents would never stand a chance against these strong winds.
Nobody knew it was coming. We never expected this. The latest update from the UN suggests 17.2 million people have been affected by the floods. 1,600 people have been killed while thousands have been affected with various skin and stomach diseases.
The USA and other countries worldwide have now pledged more than $700 million towards flood relief in Pakistan. The International Monetary Fund is looking at all possible ways to help the country deal with the economic impact of the devastating floods.
These efforts were too slow for Khan Bela. Survivors awaited for outside aid for about two weeks after this village sank in nine feet of water. Caritas was the first to reach there, says the Pakistan army. The twenty tents supplied a week ago by local diocesan member Caritas Multan now house families which are only accessible by boats. Khan Bela and its surrounding villages are submerged in water spreading across 80 kilometers.
The second wave of Church aid to Khan Bela combined relief from Caritas Multan, Church of Pakistan Lahore diocese and the Federal Ministry for Minorities. The villagers gathered on Aug 26 at the distribution point as the Church convoy approached. They shared their plight with bishops including Bishop Andrew Francis of Multan and Anglican Bishop Alexander John Malik of Lahore diocese as well as Shahbaz Bhatti, the Federal Minister for Minorities.
Shortly before handing over the packages at the embankment, Bishop Francis prayed for the survivors.
It was difficult to get comments from most of the beneficiaries belonging to the Saraiki-speaking community (a language of the ethnic groups of Central Pakistan). The translator would get lost in the repeated burst of garbled sentences from the survivors, still haunted by panic.
Not willing to leave their homes, now turned in heaps of mud, many families are still living on the edge of an embankment in hope that water will recede soon. Besides Caritas tents, the rest of the shelters on this embankment are simply composed of charpoys (woven beds) leaning over large drums or plastic sheets draped over twigs.
“What can you give us, what have you brought” are the common questions asked of every person visiting the camps of flood affected. Eager eyes always gazing upon the visitor’s hands; questioning what world has done for them.
The media is also highlighting the helplessness of those who have lost all their belongings. Despair reflects in every face talking on TV screens about how the victims are now dealing with flood situation.
A relief packet usually lasts for two days in a family of six, a typical village family unit. However imparting skills enhancing tools like sewing machines can help bringing back the confidence and hope among the survivors. While food and clothes remain a great need, the world has to think of ways to help them live with dignity.
Kamran Chaudhry is the Caritas Pakistan communicator for the relief phase of Floods in Pakistan 2010.
August 27, 2010
Aid brings hope for Pakistan’s flood victims
Pakistani survivors carry food on Bisham Karakoram Highway, badly damaged in Pakistan's worst flooding in living memory. Asad Zaidi/CRS
“I could see a huge breach in the wall of my house from a distance. It seemed the house would soon fall apart. That exactly happened right in front of my eyes,” said Feroz Masih.
When the rains came to Rehampur village, in the Okara district in Punjab, Pakistan, they washed away the 60 year old’s house and that of his brother next door.
Feroz, along with his son Saleem, was at the village hospital when the downpour came. Out to attend a training on TB awareness, arranged by Caritas Pakistan, he least expected the rain to play havoc with the structure of his house.
Warned of the impending disaster by a fellow villager, both father and son rushed to their house to save whatever they could. Rainwater had accumulated there and seeped into the foundations of the houses built mostly of mud. All they were able to save was some furniture and a few belongings.
They have been left homeless and in a state of shock. They wait anxiously for their turn to receive their share of basic food and household items at a distribution centre run by Caritas Pakistan. Caritas has been providing food, water, shelter, hygiene and cooking items, as well as medical support in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh.
“These relief supplies are a blessing for us. We can now think about rehabilitation as our food worries are over, at least for a couple of weeks,” said Feroz.
His son Saleem, 30, would be the main bread earner in the family, but he is currently out of a job. A contract labourer with cold storage houses for years, his expertise are loading and unloading of food items like potatoes, cabbage etc.
Feroz Masih's family have lost their home in Pakistan's floods, but have received a lifeline through Caritas. Shahazda Ifran/Caritas
“Following the destruction of standing crops in the area, the cold storage owners have withheld their stocks. So there’s no loading or unloading activity at this time of the year,” explains Feroz.
Saleem is forced to beg for advances from his seasonal employers. On lucky days he can extract Rs 100 or Rs 200 (around $1 or $2), but often he comes home empty-handed.
With two daughters, a wife and a father and himself to feed, his worries escalate with every passing day. Saleem has got a respite from the Caritas support.
Feroz and his family are hopeful that food supply situation will improve soon and Saleem will start earning again. Until then they don’t worry as they think the relief supplies, offered by Caritas, will help them survive.
August 24, 2010
Pakistan’s bishops call for Christian solidarity in the face of floods
JOINT APPEAL OF THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF PAKISTAN
FOR DISASTER RELIEF ACTION
Our country is facing the biggest natural disaster in its history. The super floods of the mighty River Indus have brought death and wide spread destruction – over 15 million people have been affected and lakhs of homes have been washed away by the raging waters. We stand in solidarity with those who have suffered in this national tragedy.
What is our Christian response in the face of such an enormous disaster? We are followers and disciples of Jesus Christ. He taught us that love is the most important commandment. “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). To live as a Christian means to stand up and actively promote love, mercy and compassion, especially for those who are hungry and in extreme need.
In this critical moment of national tragedy, it is our Christian duty to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Muslim and Hindu brethren and face the common calamity with courage and determination. We your religious leaders want to mobilize our limited resources in doing what we can to alleviate the sufferings of the many displaced persons. Keep reading →
August 19, 2010
Flood in Pakistan: Life between hope and fear
The camp at Saramina. Credit: Caritas Austria
Interview with Thomas Preindl, Caritas Austria
Only a couple of weeks ago, before the floods, Saramina was a normal village. Maybe the only notable fact about this village was its religious diversity. Here, two hours drive north-west from Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, Muslims, Christians and Hindus were living next to each other peacefully. At that time people still had their clay houses. Since the big flood, approximately 100 families live side by side in a camp which was set up by Caritas and a local partner organisation, one tent next to the other.
“The people were extremely happy about the help and very thankful for the tents; yet the fear of what the future will bring haunts them all. Especially, as they know how extremely cold their winters are,” reports the Caritas Austria aid worker, Thomas Preindl.
Yesterday, this experienced relief worker distributed hygiene products such as soap and toothbrushes to the most needy people in Saramina. In this massive disaster, the people here could be considered “the lucky ones”: many of their fields have remained intact, corn and vegetables are soon to be harvested. The survival of their crops is a ray of hope in the middle of the enormous damage.
A Caritas tank provides the camp with drinking water. Food and clean water have already become a luxury for many people in Pakistan. Following the disaster, eight million people are relying on humanitarian aid. Half of them are without shelter and the flooding continues.
“The need is enormous, we do whatever we can, but there is still much more help needed,” Preindl says.
Today, he will continue his journey to the north of Pakistan to support the international Caritas Team in Besham with logistics. But what does that mean exactly?
“The main questions are: what can we get? Where can we get it? And who needs it most?” Preindl says.
August 19, 2010
Pakistani women cope with flood’s aftermath
This story first appeared on Catholic Relief Service’s website. Catholic Relief Services is a US member of Caritas Internationalis.
“We didn’t know the flood was coming. It was night-time and we were asleep in our rooms,” says 43-year-old Rukhtaj, a mother of six. “Some people came and woke us up. They warned us that the water is rising. So we grabbed our children as quickly as possible and ran.
“We left all of our things so we lost everything. Still, we were very lucky…maybe only 20 minutes passed from when we were woken up to when the water came.”
Rukhtaj and her family are one of millions of Pakistanis left homeless, hungry, and without clean water following massive flooding throughout their country. Women without husbands or extended family are particularly vulnerable.
Hajraiba is a 40-year-old widow with nine children, four under the age of five. When surging water swept away her small house, she was left with nothing. A relative gave her a room for her ten-person family, but the room was flood-damaged and she worries it could collapse at any time.
Before the flood, her 13-year-old son worked in a chicken farm; his salary was their only income. “The farm was by the river and it was washed away by the rains too,” she says. “So now we have no income and no money.”
Caritas teams are navigating landslides and flood-destroyed roads to get aid to Pakistan’s most needy families, including widows like Hajraiba. Included in the emergency kits are plastic sheeting to create temporary shelters, sleeping mats, cookware and a covered bucket for water storage. Families also receive a light, especially important since snakes are common and many people are being bitten at night.
The large bucket makes a big difference to families who had no way of carrying much water before. “My children went all the time to the spring to get water in a small saucepan and a borrowed bucket,” says Hajraiba. “It was very difficult. I am using everything that Caritas gave and am very grateful.”
Rukhtaj’s story is similar. “Before we received things from Caritas, we had only two small jugs to carry water for 40 people. The children spent most of the day coming to and from the spring,” she says. “It was very hard because we could not bring enough water.”
The sleeping mats are also being put to good use. “Initially after the flood, we stayed with our relatives. But there was no space for us to lie down so we slept sitting up,” says Rukhtaj. “It was very uncomfortable and we did not sleep well. Now that we received floor mats from Caritas we are using these to sleep in the two rooms of our house that are still standing. It is still very crowded, but we are happy at least to be able to lie down.”
Rukhtaj is using the Caritas cookware to make food for 40 people. Before, “we had only one sauce pan for making bread because everything else was washed away. We had to cook for only a few people at a time,” she says. “Now we can make food for our family more easily.”
Though floodwaters are receding in the north, many people in the south are still on the move. Women and children left their flood-threatened homes first; men tried to stay to watch after cattle, but soon followed. The number of homeless is growing.
“It is very difficult to cope with this disaster,” says Rukhtaj. “What gets us through this is that we believe that God will help us.”
August 13, 2010
Caritas remembers Jacques Montouroy, CRS worker
Jacques Montouroy, 63, an aid worker with Catholic Relief Services who distributed food to the hungry in some of the world’s most desperate and dangerous places, died July 29 at a hospital in the western African nation of Sierra Leone. He had complications from an ulcer.
August 12, 2010
Pakistan floods: road to Nowshera
Credit: Caritas Pakistan
By Eric Dayal, National Emergency Coordinator, Caritas Pakistan
I travelled to Nowshera for an aid distribution on Wednesday. When we went to do a survey a week before there were blocked roads and difficulties getting through. This time we didn’t have problems and traffic was flowing quite freely, but on our way there we did see places where the waters were still up to the roofs of some of the houses.
At that moment, it hadn’t rained for two days and the waters were going down in some places. Some people – although very few of them – were going back to their houses.
The items we gave out at the distribution were decided upon from the careful assessments we did the previous week. Among them were mattresses, pillows and sheets; hygiene kits that included things such as toothpaste and even nail clippers. Also, kitchen sets containing pans, plates, cutlery and also a “tawa” which is basically a pan in which people can make chapattis.
The distribution took place at the parish house where we received 230 families. Some of these families had been staying with relatives, others had been sleeping out in the open. The ones who were sleeping in the open air had gone up to higher places or were staying near the parish house.
The houses near the river bed had been completely washed away. People are coping at the moment despite having lost so much. Some of the children are so innocent and they don’t understand what’s happening. They just keep on playing.
One of the big difficulties people are facing is the loss of their jobs. They don’t have money and they don’t know if and when they’ll next get paid. Even if they do get paid, they don’t know if it will be as much as they usually get.
Women in that area keep to themselves, but the ones I spoke to told me that for them the big difficult was not having a home and no longer having a proper family life.
I think for the people I met at Nowshera it will take at least a couple of months to get back to any sort of normal life.
