Six months after floods devastated Pakistan, we are still responding to needs in that country. The floods, which covered 50,000 kilometres, damaged over 2.2 million hectares of crops and killed over 450,000 livestock. Ten million people required immediate food aid.
Together with CFGB and other agencies we have committed to providing food kits to over 33,300 families, feeding over 266,000 people. This represents over 9,500 tonnes of food including wheat flour, rice, lentils, oil, sugar, and salt.
Kits are still being distributed to families in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, in Pakistan’s north, and Sindh Province in the south. Many families received food kits in January, which will provide food through to the end of February. In other areas, distributions are scheduled until the end of April.
Although much of the flood water has receded, needs still abound. Flood water is still standing in Sindh province, in the southern part of Pakistan. The situation will only be worse next year if many farmers don’t get a crop in the ground during the regular April planting.
Working with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and Presbyterian World Service and Development (PWS&D), we are currently in the early stages of developing a food security project that will help flood-affected families in the Swat Valley provide food for themselves in the long term. This food security initiative will complement the success of a food security project in Sindh province, already in its third year.
