AKAH’s volunteers evacuate over 8,000 flood-hit people
ISLAMABAD (APP): The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH)’s early warning system and a team of trained Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteers helped safely evacuate more than 8,000 people in the recent floods that played havoc in the country.
The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in Pakistan, immediately mobilised its agencies including AKAH, Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), Aga Khan University (AKU) and Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) to provide relief to those affected by the catastrophic floods in Pakistan, an AKDN official told APP.
Since then, it has provided humanitarian assistance to 329 families in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Chitral. Besides food and non-food items, 212 tents were distributed amongst the families whose houses were damaged.
The AKDN helicopters carried out sorties to rescue stranded families in remote villages of Yarkhun Lasht, Pavur, Shoost, Brep and Khuz in Upper Chitral and distribute thousands of kilograms of food and hundreds of kilograms of medicines.
Similar sorties were conducted in collaboration with the Pakistan Army to provide relief to 120 families in Lower Chitral, he said.
AKAH is working closely with communities, local authorities, and other institutions to manage the situation on the ground.
The restoration of critical infrastructure remains a challenge and extensive resources will be needed for rehabilitation.
AKAH has installed two cable cars in Yasin, district Ghizer and Lapsur valley in Upper Chitral connecting 640 people with the rest of the district to allow transportation of food and relief packages.
Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) has provided emergency medical services to 300 people affected by floods in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Emergency health camps have been setup in Bubur Village and Immit Valley in District Ghizer providing health services including psychosocial support and medicines to flood affectees.
Awareness sessions on water-borne diseases and safe use of water were also held to mitigate the aftereffects of the floods.
In Sindh, the Aga Khan University is focusing on provision of health care in the flood affected areas. AKU teams have completed training of health care personnel and developed a supply chain for providing medical supplies.
AKU will set up mobile medical camps and provide support to government hospitals and dispensaries with human resources and training.
It will leverage the secondary hospital in Hyderabad and rural field sites in partnership with district health officials and local police authorities.
Three teams have been sent to different camps with the assistance of local government officials in Matiari. Coverage will soon expand to Thatta, Dadu, Badin and Lasbella.