Helping flood-affected families in Pakistan: Fatima’s story

Flooding devastates local communities – destroying homes and livelihoods and leaving families in crisis unsure of the future.

In Pakistan, this reality is incredibly common. Affected by a host of natural disasters including droughts, flooding and earthquakes, locals know all too well how their homes, livelihoods and even lives are often at risk.

Sadly, when three days of monsoon rains hit in September 2020, the results were once again devastating.A total of 176 people died, over a hundred were left injured and thousands more affected in Sindh, Punjab, AJ Kashmir, Balochistan and a host of other regions.

On the ground, at least a thousand homes and livelihoods were affected, pushing families into crisis. Thousands of buffaloes and cows in Maleer and Bhans died, poultry sheds were left destroyed and the community feared a rise in the spread of disease from the waste and carcasses of animals.

With streets and homes flooded with sewage water in the southern port city of Karachi, the risk of catching water-borne diseases was a real risk.

Fleeing floods to a place of uncertainty: Meet Fatima

For locals like Fatima, the flooding has now left her and her husband Muhammed in limbo.

A 65-year-old housewife from the village of Allah Bachayo, she was forced to leave her home. Having lost their livestock to the flooding, Fatima and her family were unsure of the future and in need of emergency aid:

We were sitting in our homes when the rains started. We had nowhere else to go.

We lost sheep and cows due to the floods. Many people left to go somewhere safer. All the homes in our village are now under water. The rain has now stopped but the houses are still under water.

Most of the people in our village work on chicken farms. Others work as labourers and farmers. Women also work on the farms. They pick chillies and tomatoes to earn a living.

We use tap water as drinking water but since the flooding hit, the water is now contaminated. We don’t have another source of drinking water so we drink from that. We can’t even afford to buy water from the market.

Alhamdulillah, our teams were on the ground in Pakistan, helping Fatima and many more people in the region.

Islamic Relief: Supporting families in crisis

When the flooding hit, our Emergency Response Team was mobilised.

We carried out rapid needs assessments in Thatha, Sajawal, Sindh and Karachi to support families affected by the flooding in the most effective and efficient way possible.

We’re now providing critical cash grants to 625 of the most vulnerable families to support them in their recovery. This enabled affected families to buy agricultural tools and seeds in an area dependent on agriculture to earn an income and have a stable source of food.

We’re also supporting women to rear livestock for a two-month period to provide stability during this time of upheaval.

In addition, our Emergency Response Teams in AJ Kashmir, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were already on the ground providing Covid-19 support and will continue to support locals in need.

Thank you for supporting Fatima and countless other people across Pakistan during their time of crisis.

You truly are lifesavers.