Working together to bring relief: Pak Mission Society is doing frontline work in the north of Pakistan. (Photo: © PMS)As the devastation of the flooding in Pakistan becomes more and more apparent, CMS regional manager John Hayward brings us up to date on what CMS partners are doing
“Our teacher’s parents pulled three bodies from the trees at the end of their garden.”
“[My colleague’s] family home has been completely washed away.”
The
mind-numbing pictures and
news reports we read take on a personal significance to our partners in mission in Pakistan.
The human tragedies are described as “
brutal and heartbreaking”.
At one point, the wettest monsoon in two generations deposited 12 inches of water over hundreds of square miles in just 36 hours.
Rain continues to fall over large parts of Pakistan and the monsoon season is not due to finish for another four weeks.
The rain has washed away hillsides, swollen rivers to destroy bridges and flood land and caused a massive surge of flood waters along the River Indus. This river flows 1,200km across the plains, normally irrigating a vast expanse of agricultural land. Now it is inundating land and gushing through barrages at well over the maximum flow they were designed to control.
The UN is launching an appeal for funds and the
Disasters Emergency Committee of major aid agencies in UK has received a generous response to its appeal launched last week.
All CMS personnel in Pakistan are safe, but they are deeply affected by the flooding and destruction of people’s lives and livelihoods.
Aamir Shahzad, the CMS country consultant, has been helping to facilitate relief activities and advise local churches as they start to provide assistance. He is currently helping take aid to people in the Charsadda area, which has been particularly badly affected.
David and Dawn Curran are studying in the hill station of Murree and due to travel to Sindh early next month.
Jane Jerrard has recently returned to Sindh and reports that there has been torrential rain and people are waiting for the flooding from the surge in the Indus. That flooding has inundated large areas in southern Punjab and around Sukkur in northern Sindh.
CMS is joining with others raising funds to support the work of the Pak Mission Society in the north of the country.
We are also raising funds to support the relief efforts of our partners in mission in Pakistan as they respond in appropriate ways to the needs around them. Please help if you are able.