Since the world learned of the floods now devastating Pakistan, conditions have worsened dramatically. As of August 23, the Pakistani government estimates that 17.2 million people are affected by the floods — more than the Haiti earthquake, the 2005 South Asia earthquake, and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami combined.

The growing enormity of this humanitarian disaster has compelled UUSC and the Unitarian Universalist Association to launch our UUSC-UUA Joint Pakistan Flood Relief Fund.

Most recently, rivers flowing from the flooded areas in the northwest have swelled with water and are deluging the Sindh and Punjab provinces in the south. This is sure to have serious long-term implications for all of Pakistan. The fertile Punjab is the breadbasket for a country where a third of its population of 170 million people live below the poverty line.

Donations to the UUSC-UUA Joint Pakistan Flood Relief Fund will be put to immediate use, since UUSC already has partner organizations in the region. Bedari, which worked with UUSC in the 2005 South Asia earthquake, is working to protect women and children displaced by the floods. Barakat, a UUSC partner in Afghanistan that also works in Pakistan, is helping refugee families who have fled to the district of Attock.

Please help us help the people of Pakistan recover from this unfathomable disaster — give to the UUSC-UUA Joint Pakistan Flood Relief Fund.

Thank you for your generosity and concern.

Sincerely,

Constance F. Kane
Vice President and COO, UUSC