Nelson-based charity Muslim Global Relief has revealed that heavy rain and landslides in Pakistan and the Indian/Pakistan parts of Kashmir have led to severe flooding in the South Asian regions.
The death toll has passed 375 as authorities continue efforts to rescue hundreds of thousands of stranded people. The army and air force are working to rescue the stranded, with most been left homeless, hundreds of villages completely submerged.
Landslides have damaged roads and power lines, leaving many people without electricity and drinking water in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. With road and communication links broken getting to those stranded in remote areas is proving to be a stiff challenge.
MGR relief teams are working within the Provinces of Kashmir and Punjab and have found many people living out in the open without shelter, at the mercy of the elements, on whatever patch of dry land they could find. The risk of disease and malnutrition is increasing by the day as there is no clean water available, and children, the elderly and the sick are most vulnerable to becoming ill and even dying.
Many people are still reeling from the previous floods; about 8 million people in total were affected in 2011 and an estimated 20 million the year before. MGR says: “Please dig deep and come forward with your kindness and generosity and help us to save them.”
The charity needs food rations for a family, £60 (one month’s supply); water, £20; tent, £70 (temporary shelter for a family); medicine, £20. Call MGR on 604055 or visit: www.muslimglobalrelief.org
