It has been over four months since the worst floods in the history of Pakistan engulfed at one point approximately one-fifth of the country's total land area; four months on and millions are still awaiting help. The number of individuals affected by the flooding exceeds the combined total of individuals affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.The disaster has led to human casualties, large scale displacement and has also damaged the agricultural country’s major crops over an estimated area of more than 1.38 million acres which constitutes 30 per cent of Pakistan’s agricultural land. The writing on the wall says it is going to get harder for an already struggling nation.The floods have displaced approximately twenty million people most of them farmers from the rural areas, scores of whom have made their way into the cities in the hope of shelter and means to support their families. With the major cities already bursting at their seams this exodus has put already strained resources in the urban centers to near breaking point. It is already getting harder.
This is probably the worst year for any part of the world to be effected by a natural calamity, according to news sites 220,000 people have been killed worldwide so far in 2010 as a result of natural disasters: however the world has been giving and coming to the aid of all effected in what ever shape way or form they can! however 2010 is also the year of donor fatigue and Pakistan's floods being the most recent of natural disasters has seen aid to Pakistan bearing the brunt of world wide donor fatigue.With major aid agencies struggling, the UN hampered by half empty pledges and cheques that are not coming fast enough it has fallen upon individual communities to help in what ever way they can.And individual communities are rallying together to do what ever they can. Through family and friends we came to hear of the distress of people from the rural areas who have taken refuge in Karachi first hand; stories of a dozens of villagers living with their relatives in two room shacks in the slum areas of Karachi, villagers living on streets and the surge in beggars is distressing to hear and the little that we can do individually is clearly not going to be enough.With the global recession and an already battered economy people within Pakistan who are helping their fellow citizens too are struggling to meet the demands being placed on their own restricted budgets to come to the aid of others, yet they are doing enough to keep anarchy at bay.On hearing of the ground reality first hand from Sahar Zaidi-Shirazee the local community in Swanley got into action.Barbara Phipps, a local artist and person extraordinaire in our little town got the local community involved, with nearly a month's planning Barbara, Hazel and Sahar pulled of the first of what we hope to be a few coffee mornings on the 30th of October 2010 to raise funds for those affected by the Floods. Other than these three extraordinary ladies the local parish in Crockenhill 'the all souls church' needs a special mention too for it was its parishioners who made up the majority of those who attended the coffee morning and made the bulk of the contributions. A total of £420 GB sterling was raised ion one morning; including a single anonymous donation of £120... god bless you all.Many folks from the community donated all sorts for a raffle including a beautiful painting donated by Barbara Phipps for a silent auction. And to get our message from Swanley to Pakistan we chose to shoot our own version of a recent aid appeal video by celebrities.An apology is in order for a lot of people who took part in the video shoot but did not end up on the final cut, this was primarily due to my amateurish skills and a lack of appreciation for the havoc Sun light could play in a glass conservatory (our make shift studio)! A round of applause for Sehban Zaidi for rescuing some of the footage and editing the clips into its final form and for kindly donating his time to put it together.The money raised equates to roughly Rs.57,500 (Pakistani rupees) and is ear marked for specific aid for those escaping the floods and devastation in the province of Sindh and taking refuge in Karachi. We have opted to provide direct aid for it cuts out the middle men, administration charges and is guaranteed to get to those effected and most important of all will not get in the hands of local feudals and their cronies who distribute aid to those closest to them or in exchange of favors to be called on later. We do not want to take anything away from the most awesome work the likes of DEC, Red Cross, Red Crescent, Islamic Relief and others are involved in Pakistan, but since we can provide the aid directly we opt to do so.Unfortunately that is the reality of any disaster sites where local chieftains and wannabechieftains use aid as a leverage to hold on to or to create a power base of their own in the vacuum usually created by disasters. Having close family in Karachi puts us in a good position to get first hand information and get the aid directly to internally displaced people taking refuge in the metropolis.There will be a follow up post once the money raised is used to procure goods and is distributed to those most in need (we are awaiting photos... the funds have already been put to good use). And there will be a follow up coffee morning to raise further funds in early 2011, the size of the calamity that has struck Pakistan and its impoverished rural population requires an ongoing, sustained effort to alleviate their what is clearly a long term predicament.
