Balochistan has been destroyed. The dams that the contractors made, no one checked them. A British-era railway track has been swept away. When was it last checked? Who do we ask for help? Where do you want us to go?!

These were the angry words of Baloch actor Ayub Khosa who joined Aaj News anchor Asma Shirazi for the special transmission to raise funds for flood-hit Pakistanis Thursday night. The evening will be spent getting updates from our correspondents around the country and speaking to people who are working in communities as Pakistan grapples with an epic humanitarian disaster.

“I don’t want to speak on climate change, the ozone layer, or how Pakistan is paying the price for the emissions of developed countries like UK and the UK…and that is their responsibility to fix the damage caused to our infrastructure,” said Khosa.

Right now, he said, that the agencies and authorities working for flood relief - like the National Disaster Management Authority and its provincial wings - lack the service delivery mechanism to provide adequate relief.

“If I talk about my district, Naseerabad, or my village Sohbatpur… My cousin there, who I was able to get in touch with after great difficulty, told me that they don’t have food to eat.”

He said Sohbatpur was completely cut off. “You can’t reach it through Sindh, or through nearby areas like Dera Ilyas or Dera Murad (Jamali) or even Quetta. You can’t go to Quetta from there as the route through Bolan has been cut off. You can’t travel via train either.”

He said they don’t have the resources to arrange aerial transport to evacuate people trapped in Sohbatpur and airlift them to Quetta. “You can’t even get to Jacobabad, which is around 15-20 kilometres from Sohbatpur.”

He pointed out that telecommunication networks were down, Quetta remained without gas, the province was without drinking water, and the road network has been submerged.

“Today, I got a call from Dasht, which is a short distance from Quetta. People there have nothing to eat.”

He asked what should the people of Balochistan should do. “Even if we raise a hue and cry, it doens’t lead to anything.”

Our waterways have been destroyed, Khosa continued. “The dams that the contractors made, no one checked them. A British-era railway track has been swept away. When was it last checked? Who do we ask for help? Where do you want us to go?”

Actor Jamal Shah said he will be trying to get Pakistan’s artists to contribute to an art auction.

Please visit our donations page that has details of bank accounts where you can contribute.

The Prime Minister’s Relief Fund has been activated in order to enable people at home and abroad to voluntarily contribute. Donations can be deposited in Account No G-12164 or National Bank of Pakistan’s Account No 4181048973. Overseas donors can send money via wire transfer, money services bureau, money transfer operators and exchange houses. Cellular users can donate ten rupees by sending an SMS ’Fund“ on 9999.

The BISP is sending aid as Rs25,000 per family. Families can send their CNIC number to 8171 to register for the Flood Relief Cash Assistance program.

Pakistan has never faced such flash flooding and rains in its history. The government and meteorological authorities say that the rains have been 190 percent heavier than normal. Balochistan and Sindh received 400% and 480% more rain. The death toll since the onset of the monsoon across the country crossed the 1,000 mark with more feared as water-borne diseases spread.

Here is key information on relief and rescue efforts:

Aid from government

• Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said that the federal government had allocated a total of Rs38 billion to support each flood-hit family with Rs25,000 each.
• The federal government will give Sindh Rs15 billion.
• KP is sending two helicopters to the district administration of Swat for rescues in Kalam. They will take food to Shahi ground in Kalam and would rescue children and women back to Kanju Airport. All hotels in Bahrain and Kalam have been turned into relief centers with free accommodation and food for all tourists. There are 1,200 tourists in these hotels. Babuzai Focal Person: Amjid (03479864411) Madyan, Bahrain and Kalam Focal Person: Irfan (03143535888)

You can donate to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund Account 2022 at these banks:

The Pakistan Air Force has:

• Allied Bank: PK85ABPA0010099183680023
• Askari Bank: PK96ASCM0003851650000097
• Habib Bank: PK09HABB0022997001211801

Helplines

Nationwide:

• The Pakistan Army Flood Relief helpline to coordinate rescue and relief across the country: UAN 1135
• Pakistan Army sets up a flood relief account in Askari Bank GHQ, Rawalpindi. Account number: 00280100620583
• PAF help desk at the Disaster Relief Cell: 051-9260835 and 051-9262404 for relief and rescue-related information
• Radio Pakistan’s emergency SMS service and special transmission for including flood-affected people and those who want to help them: send text to 4471.

The BISP program is distributing Rs25,000 per family. You can advise them to register by sending their CNIC number to 8171.

KP:

• Flood emergency control room KP CM Secretariat: 1800 or 091 9222460 or UAN 091-111-712-713
• Pakistan Army KP flood relief help desk: UAN 1125
• The KP govt’s website has a list of emergency numbers listed on its website that can be viewed by cliking here.

Balochistan:

• 24-hour helpline of govt of Balochistan: 081-111-400-400

Sindh:

• Emergency number of PDMA Sindh: 1736 (Aaj Digital’s efforts to call the number were not fruitful.)
• PDMA 24-hour helpline: 021-99332742 (Aaj Digital was informed by Sindh PDMA members that the number was working till August 26 and is expected to become functional again soon.)

Punjab:

1. The Punjab PDMA helpline: 1129

Relief contributions

• Telecom companies will offer free calls in flood-affected areas. According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, there will be no call setup charges applicable on call connection and customers with no balance will be able to make on-net calls.
• The ISPR has announced that there is no separate account for Pakistan Army flood relief donations. The only one is the federal government account. Please beware of fake accounts.

Hundreds of other organisations area currently involved in flood-relief activities, including those focusing on particular areas. Certain activists are working together to develop a crowdsourced list of NGOs and individuals. The link to the list is shared below. We must add that the entities and NGOs have not been vetted by the compilers. You are requested to ensure due diligence before making any contributions.

Individual contributions

Here is a spreadsheet of NGOs and groups working on relief efforts: Google spreadsheet link

Fahad Asadullah, who worked with the Karachi Relief Trust during the floods in 2010, shared his experience regarding relief work in a Facebook post.

This is what he had to say about immediate relief assistance:

• Clothes and blankets are great but too bulky and cost a lot to transport.
• Mosquito nets and medicines are essential. A lot of people will have scabies due to exposure to dirty water and lack of clean water. A small temp/ tent facility with a few doctors on rotation will actually yield quick results to contain spread of anything serious.
• Sending clean bottled water costs way too much and people use it to clean their faces and hands. They don’t like the taste of bottled water and this cost can easily be used for tents. Water tankers can easily be bought and taken to affected areas and distributing coolers might be a far more effective way to quickly get clean water across.
• Tents are essential but don’t have to be the most expensive ones to get. They should be considered temp shelter and hence heavy materials cost a lot to send but end up getting thrown away. (For all marketing companies that have hoardings, make panaflex tents with eyelets). They work great.
• People usually travel to larger dry areas/ cities during calamities. Ration bags are supplied to many immediate/ accessible spots. Not everyone gets the bags. Many people will start fighting over bags but they end up in shops (sold for hard cash). Try and stay at a spot/city for a day or two before the distribution. You will find many families that can’t beg for food waiting for Allah’s mercy.

Development workers are also sharing their learnings regarding not just relief effort but those creating awareness regarding the disaster and the importance of language.

We came across two such threads that we believe will be helpful for those part of the relief effort.

Activist Nazish Brohi shared her learnings from the 2010-11 floods in the thread shared below.

Ayesha Siddiqi, who is a lecturer at the University of Cambridge and researches disasters, postcolonial states & conflicts, focused on the discourse surrounding such disasters and the familiar pitfalls that people must avoid.

Foreign assistance

• UAE pledges 20 aircraft sorties of relief equipment for flood victims: ISPR

  RAWALPINDI, Aug 29 (APP):The United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities on Monday contacted the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and pledged flood relief equipments for Pakistan’s flood-affected people.

The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the UAE authorities had contacted the COAS for flood relief assistance.

“UAE has pledged 20 aircraft sorties flood relief equipment to assist the flood victims across Pakistan,” the ISPR added.

This is a developing story and information will be added daily