At least 10 million people have been affected by the floods in Pakistan. Millions have lost everything, and many didn't have much to start with. The magnitude of the devastation is tough to comprehend, but today a tiny story of hope comes from Architecture for Humanity; a community-based recovery found this week during a post-flood assessment tour.
Help Pakistan is a group dedicated to getting needed humanitarian support to flood ravaged Pakistan, and disseminating information pertaining to the floods to the dailykos community at large. Our goal is getting donations to those people who need it most.
If you have a negative comment pertaining to Pakistan, its people, its culture, or its relationship with the United States, please refrain from making it here. If you would like to be a part of our group, please click the picture at the very bottom of this diary. We would love more volunteers to help us with the burden of getting a diary up every day.
The story comes via the Open Architecture Network. This past weekend an Architecture for Humanity team visited the community of Fizagat, Pakistan, which is split by 300M of flooded river, and here's what they found:
According to the visiting group's leader Mahboob Khan;
The SWAT riverbed extends over 300m at this point, with both sides of the river supporting large populations. During our trip we stumbled across an ingenious series of handmade rafts made from tire tubes and bamboo by local villagers. At least 50 of these rafts were seen crossing the water with a number under construction.
Would that creativity, resilience and the strength of the human spirit could solve all of Pakistan's problems, but the need is far too great. Valerie Amos, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator puts it this way:
The world’s attention is waning at a time when some of the biggest challenges for the relief effort here are still to come...In some parts of Pakistan, a new disaster is happening every few days and millions of people are still waiting for the support they need to survive...Elsewhere, particularly in the north, people affected when the floods started in late July are now looking to us for help to get back on their feet. Making sure the relief effort tackles both is going to be a huge test of our ability to coordinate and work effectively over the coming weeks and months.
In the early days we focused on organization that gave direct support. That list is here:
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Greg (Three Cups of Tea, Stones Into Schools) Mortenson's non-profit (CAI) recommends supporting a local (Pakistani) groups to which donations will likely have a large, immediate, and lasting impact-
Human Development Foundation
http://www.hdf.com
(800) 705 1310
DONATE
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Doctors without Borders (MSF):
DONATE
Shelterbox
DONATE
Mercy Corps:
DONATE
OXFAM:
DONATE
Islamicrelief
DONATE
UNICEF:
DONATE
Toll free: 1-800-FOR-KIDS (1-800-367-5437)
Text: "Text FLOODS to 864233 (UNICEF) to donate $10"
Shelterbox:
DONATE
ShelterBox tents in Shishkat upper Hunza, Pakistan
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From the US State dept.
How You Can Help:
Text "FLOOD" to 27722. Your $10 will go to the State Department Fund for Pakistan Relief that Secretary Clinton announced August 19, and is part of a new effort to bring attention to the need for aid.
Text "SWAT" to 50555 ; $10 goes to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees fund for flood victims
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We are looking at what may be the worst humanitarian crisis the world has seen in a century, and the worst Climate Change disaster yet.
Some of us at Daily Kos use a Google group to help organize for the crisis in Pakistan. Anyone who would like to get involved or get alerts when a new HELP PAKISTAN diary is posted, please join
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