Islamic Relief Canada – Your Donations in Action
“Monsoon on steroids”
Earlier this year, Pakistan was hit with “worst-ever” floods that the country has experienced – with more than 1/3rd of the country under water, Pakistan suffered from multitudes of losses of all kinds. The global pandemic and global warming added to the country’s misery.
Pakistan has only ever contributed a miniscule amount to the fossil fuel emissions that are causing global warming, which has predominantly contributed to these unprecedented rains. The floods have affected Sindh province the most; with close to 70% of total damages and losses, followed by Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Punjab.
Even though the water has now receded to an extent, there are still challenges that will take some time, many months perhaps, to tackle or recover from.
Many countries from around the world came together to help Pakistan; servicePath too was no exception. In the month of September, servicePath’s CTO & Co-founder Ian Cross arranged and led a marathon in the scorching heat of Dubai and the teams in Canada, UK and Pakistan collected a substantial amount of cash for helping the flood-affectees. The collections have been matched first by servicePath and later by the Canadian Government. It warms our hearts to share that the collections have been dispersed to the flood affectees, and help is on its way.
Islamic Relief Canada – Government of Canada
According to reports:
- The European Union has provided €350,000 in immediate assistance to people most affected by the climate catastrophe, especially in Jhal Magsi and Lasbella districts in the western Balochistan province.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) has released $10 million from its emergency fund to support the Muslim-majority country. The World Bank announced $350 million, the World Food Program $110 million, Japan $7 million, the Asian Development Bank $20 million, the UK $46.6 million and the US $31.1 million.
- United Arab Emirates has also sent aid to Pakistan to help the people in the flood-affected areas.
- Other countries and international non-governmental organizations are also assisting Pakistan in these difficult times. A source at the Ministry of Economic Affairs told DW on condition of anonymity that Pakistan has already received 40% of the UN “Flash Appeal” aid in the form of relief goods and assistance. “The World Bank has repurposed some of its projects so that it could use them to support the ongoing relief efforts,” he said.
According to a report from reliefweb, the suffering hasn’t yet ended; with many diseases surfacing and affecting the vulnerable public present in the flood-affected areas. Pakistan is recovering, albeit slowly.
“As the impact of the flooding continues, there are fears of growing cases of typhoid, diarrhoea, hepatitis A, malaria, and dengue fever. Most recent information from Sindh health department indicates that there are disproportionately high number of acute respiratory infections.” Pakistan therefore still needs any help that we can provide.
The climate continues to change and ways for us to mitigate that is to reduce carbon footprint and choose and create solutions that are more “green”. Its imperative that organizations continue to embrace these changes and take steps like digital transformation, incorporate sales enablement technologies and create efficiencies that will help reduce power consumption waste. With digital tools, there are endless possibilities as to how they can help businesses ensure that they are not destroying the environment; more on this here.
Thank you for your help.
If you wish to donate to the cause, please follow any of the following links:
https://islamic-relief.org/appeals/pakistan-floods-appeal/
https://alkhidmat.org/appeals/emergency-flood-appeal.html
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/pakistan-flood-relief-fund-1/
