Since June, torrential monsoon rains and floods have inundated large swathes of Pakistan, dumping up to five times the 30-year average rainfall and impacting at least 33 million people, according to the government of Pakistan. More than 3 million children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, and at increased risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition.
More than 1,100 people have died — a third of them children — and the death toll is expected to rise as flash flooding continues. Nearly 1 million homes have been damaged or swept away. Livestock, crops and orchards are gone, robbing families of their livelihoods.
“This is a calamity of biblical proportions,” Abdullah Fadil, UNICEF Representative in Pakistan, told the BBC World Service on Aug. 29. “It’s worse than the 2010-11 floods, and it has now impacted all the provinces in the country.”
CWF is collaborating with the Delhi School Karachi to disburse much needed aid.