Anwar Khan, Islamic Relief USA’s Vice President of Fund Development, is in Pakistan helping with IR USA’s efforts to provide aid and support to victims of the devastating floods. He set off from Dallas on Monday. Check back to this blog to read his updates.
I have done this trip many times before, but never in Ramadan, when I was fasting. There have been several disasters in Pakistan in the last few years: The 2005 earthquake, the floods of 2007, the Swat conflict in 2009, and now the worst floods in Pakistan in more than 80 years.
According to the United Nations, the floods are causing more devastation in Pakistan than the South Asian tsunami in 2004, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, and this year’s Haiti earthquake combined. However it has barely been mentioned in the media, and U.S. and international support is far less this time than for the other three disasters. (But the U.S. has provided the most aid to Pakistan flood victims than any other country in the world.)
As I am travelling to Pakistan, I wonder what this says about the world’s response and how it will affect those suffering in Pakistan. Millions have fled their homes and the UN is warning of cholera and other epidemics. I will see for myself what the tragedy has done to men, women and children. Twenty million people have been affected, but each person has their own story, their own struggle. The world needs to know what is happening and what they can do to help.
Act now to save lives.
I have done this trip many times before, but never in Ramadan, when I was fasting. There have been several disasters in Pakistan in the last few years: The 2005 earthquake, the floods of 2007, the Swat conflict in 2009, and now the worst floods in Pakistan in more than 80 years.
According to the United Nations, the floods are causing more devastation in Pakistan than the South Asian tsunami in 2004, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, and this year’s Haiti earthquake combined. However it has barely been mentioned in the media, and U.S. and international support is far less this time than for the other three disasters. (But the U.S. has provided the most aid to Pakistan flood victims than any other country in the world.)
As I am travelling to Pakistan, I wonder what this says about the world’s response and how it will affect those suffering in Pakistan. Millions have fled their homes and the UN is warning of cholera and other epidemics. I will see for myself what the tragedy has done to men, women and children. Twenty million people have been affected, but each person has their own story, their own struggle. The world needs to know what is happening and what they can do to help.
Act now to save lives.
