The Canadian Red Cross and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) have collectively disbursed $1 million in emergency relief to communities affected by the recent and devastating floods in Pakistan. Of the 20 million Pakistania affected by the flooding, 6 million are children.
“Initiatives such as [this] Government of Canada Rapid Response Project are vital to ensuring that we can rapidly meet the urgent needs of survivors,” said Red Cross Director of Emergencies and Recovery, Hossam Elsharkawi.
Hygiene and sanitation kits, mosquito nets, blankets and tarps were delivered to Pakistan’s capital city, Islamabad, earlier today. With a death toll that currently stands between 1 600 and 2 000, more people are expected to die from disease, said Pakistan’s British High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan.
In the dangers to come in the floods’ aftermath, children are most at risk. To be specific, 3.5 million Pakistani children are at risk of contracting diseases related to insufficient hygiene and a lack of potable water. Disease-causing pathogens tend to thrive in hot, humid and damp weather. In a country such as Pakistan, then, overcrowding caused by human displacement makes the spread of water-/pest-borne diseases even more rapid.
“Children are always vulnerable,” said Spokesperson for UNICEF, Sami Abdul Malik. “They cannot control their thirst; they will drink any type of water and may get watery diarrhoea, cholera, malaria and other diseases.”
So far, diarrhoea is the most common flood-related illness among children. Flood waters, running through houses, latrines, fertilized fields and roads are not clean sources of drinking water. What’s more – the massive flooding Pakistan suffered contaminates sources of water that are truly or moderately clean, causing diarrhoea (usually due to the inadvertent human consumption of fecal matter particles).
According to projections by the World Health Organization (WHO), 1.5 million new cases of serious diarrhoea, 140 000 cholera cases, 150 000 measles cases and 100,000 malaria cases could occur in the next three months alone.
It seems a strange and heart-wrenching sort of irony that massive flooding will cause even more death because there is a lack of water fit for human consumption. And yet, given this stark reality, it is little wonder that UN spokesperson Maurizio Giuliano affirmed, “What concerns us the most is water and health.”
Mr. Hassan also warned that the total costs of rebuilding the country will take 5 years and could cost anywhere between $10 million and $15 million.
According to the UN, only 25% of the $459 million in international emergency relief funds Pakistan’s needs immediately have been paid out.
Over the weekend, it was announced that Canada has pledged a total of $33 million, reports the CBC.