Wednesday 11 August 2010
The Irish Red Cross has called on families, communities, workplaces and sports clubs to organise fundraising efforts over the next few days so that essential services and equipment can be delivered to the flooded areas immediately.
Ms. Sheila Callan, Chairperson of the Irish Red Cross Overseas Working Group, said that Red Cross/Red Crescent teams on the ground report that persistent heavy rain in Pakistan's north-west was hampering efforts to restore essential infrastructure, slowing the delivery of relief and increasing the number of homeless.
We have sent €50,000 from the Irish Red Cross Emergency Response Fund. However we urgently need more money. There are at least 500,000 people homeless across the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Together with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, the Red Cross Movement has already provided food, tents and shelter materials to over 77,000 flood-affected people and medical teams have assisted 15,000 people. However the continuing heavy rain means accessing those in need of assistance is an ongoing challenge.
Donations to the Pakistan Emergency Floods Appeal are being accepted online at www.redcross.ie or by calling 1850 50 70 70.
"Red Cross/Red Crescent water engineers have been deployed to pump water from buildings and to restore community water supplies, and we will continue to distribute food, bottled water, tents, shelter materials, kitchen sets and hygiene items to hundreds of thousands of men, women and children," Sheila explained.
When the flood waters recede, the humanitarian needs of the people of Pakistan will remain vast, and the immense recovery needs of this country will extend beyond 2012.
Sheila Callan explained that if everyone could give just a few euro or whatever they can afford, it will make a very real difference to the lives of these people who are suffering.
"We need you, the public, to help in whatever way you can by organising events in aid of the Red Cross, shaking buckets or even arranging for a collection in your workplace, college or school. If everyone can give just few euro it will allow us to send more emergency aid to Pakistan," she said.
Donations to the Pakistan Emergency Floods Appeal are being accepted online at www.redcross.ie or by calling 1850 50 70 70.
Cheque and postal orders should be marked for the relevant appeal and made payable to:
Irish Red Cross
16, Merrion Square,
Dublin 2.