Day 2 - A successful distribution

Note: The following appeal is now closed.  You can support our ongoing work by donating to the Canadian Red Cross

 

Today we drove to Sheen village, where an onion storage compound had been converted into a makeshift distribution centre. What we witnessed there was being repeated by Red Crescent volunteers in hundreds of similar settings across the flood zone. It was in fact the standard way that Red Cross and Red Crescent societies perform relief distributions around the world in times of disaster.

On this particular morning, representatives of 250 families from a village in the area lined up to show their ID cards that matched the registration list.  This list had been prepared by trained Red Crescent relief workers who had completed a needs assessment in advance.

Each recipient – all men, which is customary in Pakistan – was handed a token that was exchanged for his family allotment.  This included: a tent, a tarpaulin, a kitchen set, mosquito net, jerry can for water, a hygiene kit, and food for one month; 20kg wheat flour, 10kg lentils, a bag of dates and cooking oil.

The Pakistan Red Crescent, with the support of the International Red Cross family, had accepted the Government’s assignment of reaching 300,000 flood-affected families – upwards of two million people – in the same basic way that these 250 households had just been helped.

I was encouraged by the level of efficiency and effectiveness of the relief distribution I had just seen that morning. These Red Crescent volunteers managed the receiving, storage, stacking and handovers of all these items smoothly and calmly. The beneficiaries were treated professionally and, more importantly, with dignity.

Tomorrow we travel to Sindh province, where the flood waters are peaking at 5 meters and hundreds more villages are being inundated.

I’m concerned about the impact on the health of millions of people being affected by lack of food, water, and shelter and by the risk of illness caused by fouled water sources and unhygienic sanitary conditions.