PORTLAND, Ore. - Mercy Corps has begun major relief and recovery efforts for survivors of southern Pakistan's destructive floods, distributing emergency kits with rice, oil, sugar, bottled water, soap and other basic supplies to families in 151 affected villages. The global humanitarian agency received a $390,000 grant from the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance to provide emergency distributions and begin planning for early recovery projects.

Roughly 40 agency workers are currently involved in efforts to reach 90,000 people. Other staff members are already evaluating how to help people in heavily damaged areas along the Arabian Sea rebuild their coastal livelihoods by rehabilitating agricultural fields and mango groves, and replacing fishermen's tools of the trade.

"We're trying to transition from emergency to recovery as fast as we can," said John Stephens, Mercy Corps' Portland-based South Asia program officer. "It's critical to meet these basic needs now, and immediately begin our planning for the long-term.

Stephens says Mercy Corps' response team will continue to grow as relief and recovery efforts intensify. The teams initially hope to reach 11,000 households with the emergency kits, which also include lentils, tea, candles and matches, and a wash bucket.

Pakistan's deadly floods came as South Asia's monsoon season began - and on the heels of a June 24 cyclone that drenched Baluchistan, Pakistan's largest and poorest province, which is bordered by Iran, Afghanistan and the Arabian Sea.

Rains have washed away dams, bridges, roads and railways, and marooned rural villages with little communications infrastructure. That has complicated efforts to gather information about the extent of flood damage: estimates of the number of people affected range from 500,000 to 2.5 million, while most estimates indicate 250,000 or more have been left homeless.

Mercy Corps has worked in Pakistan since the mid-1980s, and currently operates development programs - aiding Afghan refugees, reducing the incidence of tuberculosis and improving maternal and child health - in five of the eight districts hit worst by the floods.

"Many homes were built from mud, and quickly washed away as floodwaters rose," Stephens noted. "Our assessment teams are finding pockets of people lined up along the road, and any other places that sit above the water line."

Flood response teams mobilized just a day after the cyclone with a $50,000, privately-funded relief response. Additional funding will be necessary to expand immediate relief and long-term recovery efforts.

HOW TO HELP:

Mercy Corps South Asia Monsoon Dept. NR PO Box 2669 Portland, Oregon 97208 www.mercycorps.org 800.852.2100

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