2010 PAKISTAN FLOOD By: Ayyaz Tufail
P
akistan is passing through one of the most challenging times in its history. The country has been a Front-line ally of United States in the war against terror since 2001 and the war has taken its toll by destroying its economy, spreading poverty and unemployment. The monsoon of 2010 brought with itself a whole new set of problems for the country already in the middle of crisis. In July 2010, heavy monsoon rainfalls through out the country produced the worst flooding in 80 years. The magnitude of the floods was so big that the devastation was more than the Haiti Quake, 2004 Asia Tsunami and 2005 Pakistan Quake combined. At one point ,one fifth of Pakistan was under water, which is about 62,000 square miles or an area larger than England. The United Nations secretary general, Ban ki-moon, who flew over the country on August 15 with President Asif Ali Zardari, said he had never seen such a disaster and urged foreign donors to speed up their assistance. Although more than $1.7 billion has been pledged for Pakistan, the actual aid received is far less than what’s needed to deal with the biggest disaster in country’s history. Despite of being one of the biggest disasters in the recent history, the lack of international media coverage has restricted the amount of aid received by the country. International media gave very small coverage to the flood which left international community unaware of the dire and urgent needs to help and cooperate with the management of such disastrous event.
42 THE MESSAGE
Situation Facts:
• Nearly 21 million people (1-out-of-8 Pakistanis) affected by the floods • 10 million children affected • $9.5 billion worth of damage; government estimates it will take $30 billion to rebuild • More than 1,750 dead • At least 6 million homeless; estimated one million homes damaged or destroyed • More than 200 hospitals and clinics destroyed • 10,000+ schools damaged • 8 million people at risk for contracting disease • More than 1.7 million acres of farmland uprooted • Waterborne disease like diarrhea and cholera threaten the victims • More than 2,433 miles of highway and 3,508 miles of railroad damaged Pakistan is still in the process of helping the ones affected by the floods and needs your help in the process of rebuilding. The Muslim Student Association has already raised $300. If you would like to help the affected ones in this traumatic situation, you can donate through www.islamicreliefusa.org, which is one of many charities working to help Pakistan through these moments of crises.