ReliefWeb

Geneva, 20 February 2003 - Torrential rains have lashed drought-stricken parts of Pakistan causing chaos for the past week. According to local media reports, the downpour has left thousands of people homeless. At least 60 people are reported to have lost their lives and more than hundred people have been injured.
200 families in the Gadap district who were affected by the rains and resulting floods have been targeted to receive relief by Church World Service-Pakistan/Afghanistan (CWS/PA), a member of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International. The Gadap district, which although only 35km from Karachi, is a two-and-a-half hour drive away, due to bad road conditions.

The families will be given tents, wheat, health kits, cooking oil, sugar, milk powder and tea. The criteria for selecting those to receive help were families whose houses had collapsed, families whose household goods had washed away, people without any source of income, vulnerable women, children and the disabled.

The torrential rains have however broken the drought that has had Pakistan in its grip for about four years now. Vital dams that had fallen to critically low levels are now filling up again and crops will benefit from the rain.