Akeel Umar, a trustee and founder of Edinburgh’s World Care Foundation, will land in Pakistan on Thursday alongside three other people from the UK to provide aid during a time of crisis following devastating floods.
The team will provide necessary supplies, medical aid and general relief to a country currently fighting on the front lines of climate change. “One third of Pakistan is underwater right now. It’s absolutely unprecedented and there’s more rain expected while we are there,” Umar said.
“We don’t want to get caught in a dangerous situation and we are being careful of our own safety while we are still planning to help the people of Pakistan begin to rebuild.”
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Monsoon flooding has spread across Pakistan since mid-June, and more than 33 million people have been impacted according to Pakistan's National Disaster Management Agency.
Unicef, the UN children's agency, has also warned that children are at risk of severe illness and death because of the shortage of clean water. The floods have been caused by record breaking rainfall and melting glaciers in Pakistan’s northern mountain range.
Meanwhile, more rain is expected in the coming weeks. “The scale of the need is huge,” said Umar.
“Families, homes, and livelihoods have been destroyed. A lot of the destruction is in the poorer areas of the country which makes providing aid and rehabilitation even more difficult. It’s a very complicated situation.
“As a charity, it’s our priority to respond to global emergencies like the one in Pakistan and to provide relief to fellow human beings. Our primary objective is distributing relief in the form of food, hygiene items, and basic medical necessities to help control the spread of water related diseases.”
Tents and clothing will be distributed as needed as well. The team will also help to identify what is needed in the long term.
The World Care Foundation was founded in Edinburgh to “encourage humanitarian efforts in order to help those in need anywhere in the world, regardless of their faith, colour, gender and ethnicity.”
The charity has previously delivered aid to Croatia, Serbia, France, Macedonia, Greece, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Bangladesh among others.
Umar and his fellow World Care Foundation founder and trustee Shahid Aziz will be travelling to various hard-hit areas of Pakistan for two weeks starting Thursday. Umar has tentatively agreed to provide an update upon his return to Edinburgh.
People in Edinburgh can help Umar’s team by creating awareness of the crisis in Pakistan and by donating funds to the World Care Foundation.
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