Pakistan floods: Sheffield Live! report
August 2010
Flash floods and landslides have left 20 million homeless or displaced and 3.5 million children stand the risk of contracting waterborne diseases. Among those affected are some 1.5 million Afghan refugees who have taken shelter in Pakistan over the past three decades and more than 700,000 people displaced by the 'War on Terror' in the Swat Valley and other areas last year.
Pakistan is an agricultural country, the flooding swept away 558,000 hectares of crop land. At least 10,000 cows have drowned. With the heavy loss of fields, the country will face an acute food shortage not only this year but also the next. Pakistan is Asia's third-largest wheat producer, and 500,000 tonnes of wheat stock has been washed away, up to two million bales of cotton destroyed and around 300,000 tonnes of rice have also been lost.
The report features interviews with Salman Siddiqui, senior reporter at Express Tribune, Pakistan and Saad Khalique, vice-president of Faith Foundation, a Karachi-based charity helping flood victims in the Sindh province.
Sheffield City Council has set up donation points at the Town Hall and Howden House. You can also make a donation to DEC by calling 0370 60 60 900 or visiting the website. If you would like to donate to Faith Foundation, you can get in touch with them on 00-92-21-99250265 and 00-92-300-8246829. You can find them on Facebook for more details of the work they have done so far.
The report by Amna Kaleem was aired on Communities Live on August 13, 2010. It is available as a podcast here and on the Sheffield Live! website
