MADRE Statements

Update: Pakistan Flooding

Posted on: Thursday, August 19, 2010

Keywords: Pakistan, Emergency Relief, Environmental Justice, Asia, Water Rights

Yesterday, we asked for your help responding to the flooding in Pakistan. We're getting new information from our friends at Shirkat Gah all the time. Here is an update on the situation.

Current estimates put eight million people in need of immediate care and 4.6 million left homeless. Yet, as you've probably heard on the news, aid has been tragically slow in reaching people in need. The risk of waterborne diseases increases daily, and the loss or contamination of millions of acres of crops and hundreds of thousands of livestock leaves already-vulnerable flood survivors at critical risk.

Help us help them.

MADRE and our friends at Shirkat Gah Women's Resource Center are able to address these issues in ways governments and large international organizations so far have been unable to. By working with progressive, community-based organizations--like Shirkat Gah--MADRE is able to make an immediate impact in places where larger-scale responders are too often bureaucratic, slow and inefficient. MADRE and Shirkat Gah also ensure an impact long after the news teams and big agencies leave: since Shirkat Gah consists of women from the affected communities, they'll be in the region to plan and implement long-term, sustainable solutions.

Will you make a gift today? Your support ensures a powerful and nimble response to this crisis. Already, MADRE donors have helped supply flood-affected women and families with food, water, clothing, medicine and shelter. For the millions still in need, MADRE's unique ability to provide immediate aid can make the difference.