KUALA LUMPUR — Caritas Malaysia has given Euro20,000 for flood relief efforts in Pakistan as floods triggered by the heaviest recorded monsoon rains in a decade continue to wreak havoc there.
As of September 2022, some 33 million people from the world’s fifth-most populous country have been affected. Thousands of people have died or were injured, while over one million homes, 243 bridges, and some 5,063 kilometres of roads were damaged, and more than 730,483 livestock was lost. It is a national catastrophe and the government of Pakistan has declared a state of emergency.
More than a third of the country has been completely submerged, leaving its poor and vulnerable most in need of immediate humanitarian support.
Caritas Internationalis launched a Rapid Response project to provide thousands of men, women, and children with sufficient food, safe drinking water, health services, and access to hygiene supplies.
Malaysia has joined other Caritas bodies from Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Italy, Austria, New Zealand, Scotland, and the Netherlands to offer financial support for the relief efforts of Caritas Pakistan.
With the ongoing war in Ukraine and the outflow of refugees, Caritas Internationalis pointed out that funds available to assist in emergency relief situations have taken a hit. Relief efforts are often underfunded. This is true for Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, and others, although these too are major crises.
In addition to financial aid, Caritas Malaysia stands in solidarity with the affected peoples of the second-largest Muslim-populated nation and remembers them in our prayers.
