Save The Children - 2010 Pakistan Floods / Armed Conflict

From the InterAction site - Pakistan Floods Response 2010:

Save the Children is mobilizing personnel and supplies, including food, water, plastic sheeting, and household and hygiene kits, to provide emergency assistance to flood-affected families in Pakistan. The agency also has sent mobile health teams, ambulances and medicine to Pakistan's Swat region to provide critical emergency health care to children and families.

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FROM THE SITE:

ave the Children to Distribute Food to Thousands of Families

Heavy Rains Expected to Continue throughout the Week

WESTPORT, Conn (August 5, 2010) – Pakistan government officials have issued new flood warnings as monsoon rains continue to strand hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country, washing away homes, schools, roads and bridges. The United Nations estimates 980,000 people have lost their homes or been forced to evacuate, and the World Food Programme (WFP) reports 1.8 million people have a critical need for food supplies. Save the Children, in partnership with WFP, will distribute emergency food packages to 6,000 of the most vulnerable families in the remote areas of Swat Valley.

"Many families in these areas ran out of food days ago" said Mohammed Qazilbash, Save the Children's spokesperson in Islamabad. "Our relief teams are walking on foot through areas where roads have been destroyed, in order to reach families who have yet to receive aid."

Save the Children is also providing emergency health services in Swat, treating more than 1,000 people in the last four days.

"There has been a significant increase in complaints of acute respiratory infections, diarrhea and malaria," reported Qazilbash, "And conditions are expected to become worse as the heavy rains continue this week. We are particularly concerned about the young children who are living in temporary shelters without access to clean water."

In other areas, including DI Khan, Buner and Allai, Save the Children's medical teams are treating hundreds of flood victims and providing hygiene kits, plastic shelters, food ration packs and household supplies.

Background

Save the Children has been working with children and families in Pakistan for more than 30 years. The humanitarian agency provided assistance to those affected by Tropical Storm Phet this past June, the conflict in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province in 2009, the flash floods in Peshawar, Kybery Agency and Rajanpur in August and December of 2008, and the massive earthquake in 2005.

For more information on Save the Children's response in Pakistan and for ways to help, please visit our Pakistan Flood Emergency page at:

http://www.savethechildren.org/emergencies/asia/pakistan-floods-2010/

Our Emergency Response in Pakistan

Work is taking place in regions where the agency provided relief to conflict-affected families in 2009 and after the country’s epic 2005 earthquake.

Save the Children is working in partnership with national, district and local governments and is using all means of transportation available, including helicopters, mules and boats, to send health staff and supplies to communities that have been cut off by the floods.

* In Allai, a medical team and medicines were sent in by mules because of blocked roads.
* In Jambera, a medical team was airlifted to Kund to supply urgently needed medical care to a village which was cut off by a destroyed bridge.
* In DI Khan, Save the Children has deployed three mobile health teams and two ambulances to provide emergency medical treatment.
* In Buner District, Save the Children is providing emergency health services through three Basic Health Units (comprising a medical doctor, female health worker, and a person to dispense medicine) and two ambulances.
* In Swat, two mobile health teams and eight existing Save the Children health clinics are providing emergency health services.
* In Thakot, Save the Children has deployed a medical team and established a health clinic from a pre-fabricated structure, and supplied medicines to make-shift clinics by boat via the River Indus.
* Water purification tablets will be provided to 25,000 families.
* Save the Children is preparing to distribute some 800 "shelter-plus" kits to homeless families beginning on August 3. Kits contain tarps, buckets, water containers and ropes.
* Save the Children will partner with the World Food Program for an emergency food distribution as soon as possible.
* Ongoing assessments in affected areas continue to help us identify children’s need and mobilize relief.

Save the Children has worked in Pakistan for more than 25 years.

Donate Now to the Pakistan Children in Emergency Fund.

You can donate any amount through the link above, by calling 1-800-728-3843 or 1-203-221-4030

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FROM THE INTERACTION SITE - 2010 Armed Conflict Response:

Save the Children is assisting displaced children and their families who are living outside of camps and who comprise the majority of people who have fled fighting in the Swat Valley. Save the Children has provided essential household and hygiene supplies, and other services to more than 31,000 people, among them 18,300 children. The agency’s health outreach has provided nearly 4,500 people with medical assistance through mobile teams of doctors and support of government clinics with staffing and supplies. In addition, it has established eight child-friendly spaces, benefitting 700 children, and will establish another 30 spaces over the next two weeks. Save the Children plans to reach 280,000 displaced people, including 168,000 children