More Good Ways to Help Flood Victims in Pakistan

Adil Najam

This post updates our earlier list of good ways to help flood victims in Pakistan.

The good news is that there are now many avenues through which support can be provided to them. We have listed and given links to just a few here but there are many many more. More importantly, the range of avenues and ways in whihc you can help has also expanded. These range from UN agencies (such as UNHCR or WFP) to international relief organizations (such as Doctors Without Borders or Save the Children) to Pakistani groups such as (Edhi Trust or Behbud) to more localized organizations (such as Karachi Relief Trust or SRSP) to knowledge efforts (such as PakRelief crowd-mapping) to expatriate Pakistani efforts (such as Human Development Foundation or Relief4Paksiatan) to individual efforts such as those TeethMaestro and OffRoad Club of Paksitan and, indeed, by thousands of families and individuals all over the country who are just rising to collect money and goods and get it to those in need.

Once again, we urge you to give. Give to who ever you think will do the best job. But give. No matter how much you give or to whom. Do please give. Because the need is great. I tried to make this case to American audiences in a recent NPR interview (listen to audio here), and the case to Pakistanis is the same, but even more urgent.

Mouj baRhay, ya aandhi aaye, diya jalaye rakhna hai
Ghar ki khatir sou dukh jhailain, ghar tou aakhir appna hai

On behalf of all of our readers, we have been sending donations from ATP to Edhi Foundation and we intend to keep adding to this whatever we can. We realize this is a small amount and insignificant in light of the challenges, but we mention it here (a) because it comes from our Ad revenues and therefore from you, and (b) because we wish to reinforce the point that everyone should do whatever little they can, because every little bit counts. Since the question has been repeated, let me repeat our response to those kind readers and past donors who have written asking that we should do a collection at ATP as be have done in the past (for cyclone victims, for earthquake victims, for IDPs, etc.). However, given how many other good avenues now exist we think it is better to just urge you to give wherever you can and whatever you can.

If you are sending goods in kind, please review our last post on the subject which has a good list of the things most needed. Also, please do remember that as the water recedes the needs will actually increase, not decrease. In particular the incidence of disease will rise and the need for hygiene as well as medicine will rise with it. So, please, do whatever you can. For all our sakes!