Friday 3 September 2010

A child waiting for food at a camp near Sukker, in the province of Sindh, Pakistan.

Only 20% of people who have fled their homes because of flooding have yet been reached with food aid because of the huge scale of the crisis and because of the logistical challenges involved in reaching so many people. Tens of thousands have been cut off from relief due to high water or destroyed infrastructure.

Filthy flood waters still cover around one fifth of the country. In some areas, villages are effectively islands with marooned families having to wade through three feet of high waters to reach food distribution centres as aid trucks are not able to reach them.
 
Gareth Owen, emergencies director of Save the Children, currently in Pakistan said: “In one camp where we’re working, almost half of the children we met were suffering from illnesses due to lack of food and clean water. Two appeared to be severely malnourished.”  

Disease is spreading quickly

“In overcrowded camps surrounded by dirty water, disease is spreading quickly – we know that malnutrition makes a child more susceptible to disease and also that many diseases prevent the absorption of essential nutrients which can cause malnutrition, creating a downward spiral,” Owen continued. “If children are already severely malnourished after only one month, the situation in two to three months time is likely to be devastating."
 
Diarrhoea, acute respiratory illnesses and skin diseases are already widespread among the millions of children forced from their homes. Already, 200 people around the country are reported to have died – most of these were young children. Families are living in squalid conditions, living alongside goats and sheep in makeshift camps alongside busy roads, or sleeping with five or six other families in one school room. 

20 million people have fled their homes

We fear the situation is equally bad for young children across the flood zone. An estimated 20 million people in Pakistan have been displaced and are in need of urgent support.

While working as hard as they can, aid agencies are struggling to reach the huge numbers of people affected by the disaster with food and health care. Save the Children is urging that pregnant and breastfeeding women, along with children under five – who are always the most vulnerable in an emergency – are made a priority when it comes to food and medical attention. 

3.5 million children at risk of water-born disease

We estimate that 3.5 million girls and boys are at high risk of water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery and typhoid. Around 100,000 women are also due to give birth in the next month in the flood zone and there are extreme risks to babies born in the first days of their lives if they are not in a safe and clean environment with basic health care.

We've reached 300,000 people already

Save the Children is mounting an estimated £35.4 million response for the Pakistan floods – our largest single country response ever. In 30 days we have reached more than 300,000 people with health care, food and shelter. We have more than 500 staff responding to the emergency in 17 districts of the country.

"We're working as hard and as fast as we can to reach children in desperate need of food, shelter and medical care," said Owen. "But as the waters recede, the numbers of families in need of urgent support are only growing. This crisis will get dramatically worse before it can begin to improve. More funds are urgently needed to reach the vast number of children affected by this disaster.”
 
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