Relief news update from Pakistan - 20 Aug 2010  
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Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association relief news update from Pakistan.
Torrential rains in Pakistan at the end of July caused massive flooding of the Bann River in Balochistan province, followed by a second wave of floods on August 14 around the Indus River in Sindh province.

More than 1,600 people lost their lives as over 20 million survivors have been homeless and in desperate need of aid. Pakistani governments as well as international countries and aid groups have been diligently responding despite vast difficulties to deliver supplies and reach stranded villagers, with one of the most impacted regions being the Naushahro Feroze District in Sindh province.

Abdul Aleem Sahto – Deputy district officer, Naushahro Feroze District, Sindh province, Pakistan (M): About 50,000 people are likely to be affected, around which 25,000 are displaced from the Kacha area.

Most of the relief camps were established by the district government, about 54 camps, for the relief of the affected.

VOICE: Offering her deep consolation and tearful prayers, Supreme Master Ching Hai quickly donated US$65,000 and asked our Association members, including medical professionals, to render help and also purchase tents for sheltering the most vulnerable.

Then, most recently on August 15, Supreme Master Ching Hai sent another US$50,000 to further address desperate needs of any kind.

The combined US$115,000 could obtain approximately US$2 million in urgent supplies if purchased in the United States, based on Pakistan’s cost of living.

Covering their own travel costs of US$3,240, our Association’s relief team from Formosa (Taiwan) went to the affected area on August 5, with another team trained in medical and dental areas that arrived August 19.
With the help of the local non-profit group All Green, with whom our Association’s relief team has often collaborated on past relief missions, 885 food packages containing rice, wheat flour, beans, sugar, salt, and vegetable oil were prepared and shipped to the extremely underserved in Naushahro Feroze District.

Abdul Aleem Sahto (M): We are very thankful to the Supreme Master Ching Hai for providing relief assistance to the affected.

VOICE: Our gratefulness, governments and groups worldwide for your ongoing responses to relieve the Pakistani people’s suffering as we join in thanking Supreme Master Ching Hai for her loving assistance and our Association members for their diligent efforts.

With prayers for the victims’ stability and recovery, we pray that humanity hastens toward gentler eco-conscious ways for the restored balance of this planetary home.