8/7/2019 OM Pakistan- Helping in the Flood Disaster

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The worst isster

I he eer witesse,pronounced United Nations

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

On 2nd August 2010, the Pakistangovernment issued a three day oodalert, warning that 200,000 peoplewould be aected.

Within two days, it was reportedthat three million people had beeninternally displaced (IDPs) in ood-ravaged areas, with as many as 1,500people killed.

Water continued to pour into theland, causing massive destructionto homes and families, crops, andwhole areas of land.And it continued to rain....

Temperatures rose, causing snow tomelt from mountain areas, resultingin more water to ow. Old ood de-fenses were swept away. Stagnantwater was breeding malaria, choleraand other diseases.

Agriculture had been devastatedand livelihoods laid waste, especiallyin the rural areas.

Electricity cables and lines weredown too, as infrastructure was tornout, and roads collapsed, making itvery dicult to travel.

Our Resose

As news o the food started to come through toOM Pakistan, we ell to our knees in prayer. Thiswas a terrible thing to happen to our country!What could we do? The scale seemed enormous,and we were so ew. But God is bigger than all ous. We would ask Him.

We decided that we could help some amilies, andwould do so as best we could.

Having been involved in the Pakistan EarthquakeRelie eort in 2005, we had experience in howwe might be Gods hands and eet, and began toplan.

We would go to the areas where we knew people,and see what the situation was like. We would askpeople we trusted to help us take surveys o theamilies, looking to their needs, and asking themwhat would benet them.

Our team leaders went to the North and South,talking to villagers, taking time to listen and dis-cover those in greatest need.

We went again and again to make sure exactlywhat was needed was provided, said a teamleader. There was no point in giving them aidthat they couldnt use or the stage at which theywere at. Our response needs to be tailored towhere they are, not where we think they are.

Having decided upon three stages to our relieeort, we selected 1,000 amilies to help. Thiscommitted us to raising at least $25,000. We setto work.

Families stranded by the food waters werestarving and grateul or our help: You arethe rst to have reached us with aid. Wehave not eaten in two days.So we began to think o helping those whomothers were not helping. It seemed a goodBiblical principle.

Many people had let the ruins o theirhomes to go to camps. They arrived withthe clothes they stood up in, many havinglost everything, including amily members.

Although the Army was providing somewith ood, we provided others with at leastone hot meal, as well as cooking utensils,

and other household essentials in order to be ableto use the dried ood packages.

We also realised that some needed medical help:

babies and young children were becoming dehy-drated, and clean water was not available to drink.So we began to address these needs.

As people became used to us, they began look-ing out or us on the road; they started to trustus, when we said we would come, we came, saida team leader. We had committed to helpingthem, and we needed to be aithul. In this way, wehave been able to build wonderul relationships.

The weeks went by. Our teams were increasinglystretched, physically, emotionally, and mentally.But they carried on, bringing practical love tothose who needed it most.

God has provided us with all we need or thecommitment weve made: praise Him! God hasbeen aithul, and we need to be aithul in our

responsibilities, says OM Pakistan leader.

T H R E E

RELIEF and dEvELOpmEnT: mercy i actio

We re grteul to

Go

As we look back at the threestages we have been able toaccomplish, we are amazed atevents.

OM Pakistan has received$1 million already, and so farhas spent approximately 35%on food, blankets, medicines,and the items in Stages 1 and 2.

God has raised up both nancesand the people to help andpartner with us, so that we

have been able to increase thenumber of houses, and blessmore people as a result, saidthe OM Pakistan leader.

If additional funds come in,we may consider investingin dispensaries, centres, medicalclinics, that sort of thing, as inmany areas the local facilities,like schools, are 10km awayfrom the villages they serve. Wewill have to see.

These are exciting, challengingtimes for us. We know thatGod is using us, not only to help,but so that others will see Godthrough us.

We re grteul to

you tooThank you for partnering with us,for praying, contributing, open-ing your hearts and supportingus. There is still work to be done!

Our latest Flood dvd is nowavailable.

Further iortiocontact your local OM oce orus direct at info.pak@om.org orcommunications.casr@om.org

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RELIEF and dEvELOpmEnT: mercy i actio

Sureyig the eesOur team took surveys o food-aected areas toget an idea o how to help with the resettlement othe IPDs: There is still two to three eet o waterstanding there. The city looks like the ruins o a lostcity; the devastation is enormous.

It is wonderul to see people returning to theirhomes, but it reminds us all that now the task is muchbigger, and our goal very challenging, to resettlepeople and construct houses. We need wisdom aswe collect data, prepare reports and plan an eectivestrategy. The reconstruction o 500 houses is ahuge task and to some extent beyond our teamscapacity: we need to make ve visits to each lo-cation to ascertain the needs or reconstructionwork, said the team leader.

In November, over 50% o the IDPs returned totheir homes: Most have no house still standingand the remaining houses are unsae. Manypeople are l iv ing without electricity,cleandrinking water or ood. The bad smello decaying dead bodies o animals andorganic material is everywhere. Many peoplehave wounds, skin inections and scabies. Theystill need our help. Others are still waiting inthe camps or government aid.

I the orthBy December, we began house construction in thenorth. We had to employ masons and labourers todo the physical labour, as no one in our team had theright experience. We plan to complete 50 housesevery month, honouring our commitment to pro-vide 250 houses within a six month period, and

nish at the end o June. We are on target so ar!

Every house is dierent: i the house is still stand-ing, we do maintenance work, using existing bricks,mending cracks, repairing roo tiles. A ew housesneed to be rebuilt rom the oundations up, but notso many perhaps three out o every ten, said theteam surveyor.

People have already moved into their restoredhomes: It was impossible, looking at our house, toimagine living in it, but you have made it possible.

The weather is very cold or us, at around 4-5 C,which is not a problem or the reconstruction work.In the summer we have to continually sprinkle wateronto the cement to keep it moist; in winter, wateris less needed, so its easier or the reconstructionwork.

I the southWe are establishing a model cluster o 20 two-roomed houses with proper drainage, orming acommunity courtyard with a community room,toilets, washing acilities, plus a separate area or ani-mals. These will be proper food-resistant homes,replacing ormer mud buildings. We intend to in-troduce long-term projects with the reconstructionwork: micro enterprises to raise living standards,provide education, health and agricultural advice,enabling people to be sel supporting long-term.

We already have good relationships with the people.We met them again and again, as we gave outinitial ood parcels, and then returned with winterpackages and medical help. They have seen we arereally interested in their restoration, which gives uscourage to speak openly about our motivation or

helping them, and our love or God.

Recostructig houses restorig hoes

Helig i the

Floo dissterSpring 2011

8/7/2019 OM Pakistan- Helping in the Flood Disaster

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RELIEF and dEvELOpmEnT: mercy i actioRELIEF and dEvELOpmEnT: mercy i actio

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T W O

We istribute oo to r quite gerous lces.At one place we ound a Madrasa, a religious training centre, and asked them i theyneeded ood. They told us they were very hungry and had not eaten in two days.We asked them i they were happy to take ood rom Christians, and they willinglyaccepted ood packets rom us.

In more distant places, we discovered villagers who had had nothing to eat or threedays: the situation is terrible! There is a shortage o ood items in the markets andthe wholesaler has already doubled his prices.

Brigig eergecy sulies o oo ckges bsic clothig to the eserte

Stre illgers were grteul or our hel

Riig riigAs the rains continued to all, the water went on rising, food-ing villages, and orcing people to move once more. Roadsdisappeared or collapsed under the pressure, making it almostimpossible to travel. The only useul vehicles were tractors andrough carts.

In order to bring relie goods, our team leader drove throughthe night, arriving saely just beore the road was completelydestroyed by overfowing food water, and submerging thesuper-highway. Praise God he was kept sae.

In spite o all this rain, there is no drinking water! People arethirsty ; nor can they cook, as the rain does not let up, and hassoaked the rewood. Few amilies have stoves, cooking potsor crockery, anyway.

Our little truck chugs doggedly to the villages and towns, bring-ing what aid we can. Sadly, people are becoming desperate,and some violent - their need is so great. We have 12 peopletravelling in our team, and keep one man posted on eachtop corner o the truck,to prevent pillaging.

meicl Cs set uWith all the water standing around,the wounds received during the foodtorrents and the lack o ood and cleanwater, people were in bad shape. Wedecided it would be necessary to setup basic medical camps in situ, to

help as best we could to meet theemergencies.

While our objective is to save lives byproviding them with ood we do notwant to see them dying o diseases.

It is the second day o medical camp,and we are already eeling the work-load. Patients keep on coming rightto the very end: goodness knows howmany we saw! Our only lady doctorhas been kept very busy; she alsohelped two mothers deliver babiesunder these hostile conditions.

That day, a total o 265 patientsreceived treatment or malaria,diarrhoea and ever, as well assnake bites and skin diseases.Certain medications were just notavailable locally and had to be suppliedrom Lahore.

Brigig essetils o witer clothig, cookig utesils, osquito ets wter flters

Your Christi brothers cre or you - tht is why we re here.Ater surveying to distribute warm clothes to food victims in the severe cold weather,we planned to help 3,500 amilies in both the north and south. We printed special stickerson the packages saying:

Let us share in your sorrow. This relief package is from your Essai (Christian) brothers.

People receiving the packages said: We are thankul to you that you came to help us in suchcold weather. We have seen you beore and you guys do a hard work or us and bring thingsthat we need.

Its still not enough to dealwith these encounters.When people are desperate

they do desperate things,said a team member.

Idp C relieIncreased fooding caused many toleave their homes looking or shelter.The army sent them to IDP camps. Treesand dry wood were chopped up or re-wood, changing the landscape.

We are now having to eed increasednumbers, and provide a hot meal, as wellas dry rations. We are also giving out san-dals, clothes and crockery. Due to the lacko ood and space available, ghts anddisputes are breaking out, said the teamleader. However, many o the regularmeal receivers become our riends andregard it as a git or which they have noreturn. In this way we can share Godslove.

We trust you guys, one man said, andknow that you will give to the needyrather than keeping it or yourselves likeothers are d oing.

Another said: We thank OM Team or thisbrilliant eort providing ood goods. I canclearly see the passion you have to helpthe people.

Sowig, tretig flterigOur ministry partners asked us urgently to install handpumps or the thousands o people living without cleandrinking water on the banks o the River Indus. We wereable to help with ood or 200 and 10 water pumps.

Our medical camps have served 8,427 people so ar:

Your team comes here like angels. You didnt just helpus with medicine but you also pray or us; this is the rsttime in my lie any team comes and helps us like brothers.You have good medicines.

Many organisations have arranged medical c amps butthey do not have complete medicine and they also didnot check all the patients. They just make their reports,but you are dierent. You came with complete medicinesand you also check all the patients; your doctors arealso very nice and their behavior is also very kind withpatients.

November is when the armers sow seed. But most othe land had notbeen prepared dueto food damage.Through our generousdonors, we were able to

provide 52 armers withseed and ertilizers,or a March wheat crop.

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