Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association relief news update from Pakistan.
A series of massive floods, the most devastating in the nation's history, has claimed over
1,600 lives with victims still missing. In all, the United Nations estimates that 17
million residents have been affected, of whom about five million are currently homeless.
More recent flooding in mid-August has worsened the situation in the nation's southern Sindh
province, where over 460,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. As of Thursday, August
26, nearly half a million people were instructed to evacuate as the Indus River continued rising.
Hazar Khan, Pakistani flood victim (m): We were given three hours to evacuate. I could
only take my family and children and left with nothing else.
Haleem Adil Sheikh, Secretary-General, Sindh, Pakistan (m): The impact is very dangerous.
Millions of children lost their houses, millions of children lost their parents. So many cities,
they are looking like a river now, an ocean. They were cities! Life is smashed in Pakistan.
VOICE: A month since the first serious floods, the victims have been in need of food, water,
shelter from the scorching heat, and medical attention, with millions of children and the
vulnerable at risk of waterborne diseases and heatstroke.
Conveying her sorrowful prayers for the Pakistani people, Supreme Master Ching Hai immediately
sent US$35,000 upon hearing of the initial disaster, requesting that our Association
members, including doctors and nurses, go to help. As the situation worsened, she donated
US$80,000 more in emergency aid, specifically requesting that sheltering tents be bought
for the most desperate such as children and the elderly. The combined US$115,000 could
purchase approximately US$2 million in urgent supplies in the United States, based on Pakistan's
cost of living.
Covering their own travel expenses of US$3,240, our Association's relief team from Formosa
(Taiwan), including one doctor, a nurse and dentist, have been assisting with diverse
needs since they arrived in the highly impacted Mithyani area of Sindh Province. A second
relief team from Indonesia also just arrived with more medical support and will focus on
assistin in another region.
SMTV Correspondent in Pakistan: We are in Mithyani of Sindh. It used to be a 40-village
area. But now, the flash flood washed away everything. As you can see, the village behind
me and the damaged houses - it's all gone. You can see half the mosque in the flood water.
We can feel how serious the flood was at that time.
VOICE: With the help of the Pakistan Red Crescent, the All Green Association in Sindh, and an
officer with the Taluka Municipal administration, the relief team assessed the area's needs
and purchased tents, along with medicine and basic food supplies. The medical team was
stationed at a government-owned school in Mithyani, where they have been treating approximately
400 flood-affected persons who arrive each day. Many of the patients saw rapid improvements
to their conditions. Meanwhile, the relief team supplied rice, beans, salt and cooking
oil to a kitchen in Mithyani that had been set up by the government, where local volunteers
were thus able to prepare more nutritious traditional plant-based meals. Our Association's
relief team members helped distribute the food to waiting families along with SOS flyers
explaining the vegan solution to preventing climate-related disasters.
SMTV Correspondent in Pakistan: We are at the government's temporary kitchen. They are
cooking the food for the flood victims. They used the beans, rice and vegetables which
were donated by Supreme Master Ching Hai. Let's go to see the kitchen now. You can see
the food is done. There are beans, vegetables, and mushrooms in the pot.
Salam (Peace).
SMTV Correspondent in Pakistan: This is Supreme Master Television reporting from Pakistan.
VOICE: To the Pakistani government and officials, Pakistan's Red Crescent, and All Green Association
in Sindh, thank you for your dedicated efforts in bringing relief to the flood victims. We
are also grateful to Supreme Master Ching Hai for her attentive aid and to our Association's
relief team for their diligent service. Our prayers for the restorarion of Pakistan and
her people to safe, day-to-day lives, and that such events are eased as more people
join in considerate ways of living.�