First water deliveries by ACTED
Blanket food distributions for 60,000 flood-affected populations

Islamabad, August 6th 2010 – Since July 21st, unprecedented monsoon rains have hit Pakistan– the worst monsoon on record since 1929-, with massive floods claiming nearly 1,500 lives and affecting millions of people. In the North West of the country, the torrential rains have wrecked entire villages, swallowed up by rivers in spate that have turned into wrenching torrents sweeping away houses, crops and livestock.

10 days after the start of the crisis, over 4 million people have been affected, among whom are numerous families already facing harsh difficulties in the North West of the country, hit by conflicts last year which have led to the displacement of over 2.2 million people. ACTED’s teams have been supporting these affected communities as they return to their area and throughout the long and difficult reconstruction process in the valley of Swat and Dir. Today, everything needs to be started all over again.

The massive floods have swept away the whole infrastructure, including bridges, roads and access routes, further isolating mountain villages in the North of the country. These harsh conditions have slowed down the arrival of relief which is urgently needed by the disaster victims who lack both food and water because of insufficient supplies reaching local markets. Communities are also facing increasing risks of water-borne diseases and other epidemics. In the Swat valley alone, hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by the catastrophe.

Since Sunday, ACTED’s teams present in the worst hit areas, in the North of the Swat valley and North of the Dir valley, have been concentrating on the assessment of the most urgent needs and on setting up emergency relief operations. On Thursday August 5th , ACTED began the first water deliveries to some 2,600 people in the villages without water. Overflowing rivers have polluted clean water sources and destroyed most of the water supply network. ACTED staff have delivered some 20,000 liters of drinking water and will carry on the distributions in the coming days, until a return to normal.

In the next few hours, ACTED is starting massive food distributions for over 60,000 Pakistanis located in the isolated districts North of the valley of Swat. Over several days, tons of food items will be flown by helicopter to these remote areas, where affected families will receive food to cover their immediate nutritional needs and those of their children.

For the past five days, ACTED’s resources in Pakistan have been fully devoted to responding to the emergency, with the transportation and delivery of basic non-food items (hygiene kits, tents, kitchenware, tools, etc.) and the setting-up of cleaning activities for the communities in order to clear away the mud which has filled homes and affected harvest and cattle, while providing the most vulnerable households with immediate cash.

ACTED has launched an appeal to support its ongoing relief operations and to help the flood-affected populations in Pakistan. Thank you for your support.

>> Floods - Situation report in Upper Dir
>> Floods in North West Pakistan - over 2 million affected people