Pakistan Floods: Reaching out for Shelter

Raabya Amjad, 8 August 2010

Tired and expressionless faces searching for answers to their misery gathered in a secondary school which has been turned into a relief camp for people displaced due to high floods in Sukkur, Pakistan.  

Carrying her 15 month old son in her arms, Noor Jehan was as lost as many others from her community. Still in a state of shock and fatigue, she recalls her evacuation from her ancestral village.

“I was tending the goats in the compound when my brother-in-law hurriedly came in and informed us that we had to vacate our house immediately as the river will flood our village by nightfall. It was chaotic, I don’t know how we loaded our meagre belongings on to the donkey cart, got onto it ourselves and set out on the road to Sukkur”, says Noor Jehan.

With tears in her eyes, Noor Jehan narrates her plight. “My husband and his brother stayed behind to safeguard our goats and the cow, our only source of income. For us, it was an agonising journey. We did not know our destination and were worried sick about our men that we left behind. After travelling for a day and a night, we have reached here but are uncertain of what will happen next”.  

The people displaced in the relief camps are waiting for help out in the open without the basic amenities such as safe drinking water, food, shelter, sanitation and hygiene services. These communities are extremely vulnerable.

Officials of the Municipal Administration have set up a medical camp in the school building where UNICEF is supporting the Health Department to immunise against measles and other preventable diseases. A vaccinator was busy tending to children and providing Vitamin A supplementation.

The situation is expected to get worse as rains continue in the northern part of the country and water levels continue to rise.

UNICEF is responding with emergency life-saving relief. Please help us reach more families in Pakistan by donating to our Pakistan Emergency Appeal.