Floods continue to devastate Pakistan

“It has been a very bad time for and the situation is still not under control. The weather is not helping and the flood waters are moving towards Sindh where Karachi is located. The north of Pakistan is already facing devastation and we are now bracing for a worsening of the situation in the south as well. Your support means a lot to us and the members of SI clubs of Pakistan.” (Talat Pasha, SI. Karachi Central, FPAC Pakistan)

To see the devastation in photos, visit http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/08/severe_flooding_in_pakistan.html

According to the latest figures, about 14 million people have been affected by the floods in Pakistan, and with the waters surging to the south this number is likely to increase. Yet compared to other natural disasters, aid mobilisation is far slower. The UN is launching an urgent appeal for millions of dollars to aid the 13.8 million Pakistanis impacted by the country's worst flooding in 80 years. The scale of the destruction has now eclipsed that of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Pakistan's 2005 earthquake and the Haiti quake in January, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, although the number of deaths is much lower.

If you would like to help, please visit http://soroptimist-gbi.org/ for a link to the SIGBI Emergency Relief Fund.