Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) helped around 314,167 number of flood affectees surrounded by stagnant water for months in flood hit areas to access clean drinking water with the collaboration of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
These flood survivors were compelled to consume contaminated floodwater which led to a rise in various water-borne diseases in flood hit areas. In the 19-month flood response and recovery operations, PRCS with the support of IFRC focused on the implementation of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services in the flood-affected districts across Pakistan, highlighted a documentary shared on social media. Realizing the high vulnerability of the flood-affected people to water-borne diseases, the organizations concentrated its focus on the provision of safe drinking water in the flood-hit areas and deployed 13 water treatment plants across seven locations in Sindh, four in Baluchistan and two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
These water treatment plants benefited approximately 42,000 people daily for over three months in these provinces by providing over 28 million liters of potable water. Apart from that, around 98 hand pumps were also constructed and rehabilitated in the flood-damaged districts, benefitting over 35,000 people.
Five solar water filtration plants were also constructed in Sindh and Baluchistan provinces benefitting 12,600 individuals. A further 4,000 household water filters have been distributed in Larkana, Qambar Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, and Dadu districts of Sindh, to ensure the availability of safe drinking water at the household level. “The 2022 floods wreaked devastating damage in our area, inflicting huge losses on the local communities,” observed Mumtaz Ali Magsi from Qubo Saeed Khan village, Qambar Shahdadkot district, Sindh.
Mumtaz said that the villagers were faced with a very serious problem of the lack of clean drinking water in the post-flood scenario. The support extended by PRCS/IFRC through the installation of a solar filtration plant in his village has benefitted a large number of people in obtaining clean and healthy water, he added. The people of Qubo Saeed Khan and its adjacent villages are thankful from the core of their hearts to PRCS and IFRC for resolving a very genuine problem, Ali remarked.
It merits an insertion here that PRCS in collaboration with IFRC has also provided support to 1,500 households to construct permanent household latrines. So far, over 400 permanent household latrines have been constructed, contributing towards minimizing the risk of sanitation-related diseases. Special focus was also given on the capacity building of communities, and for this purpose, hygiene promotion trainings have been conducted, through which 145 PRCS staff and volunteers were trained in Larkana, Shikarpur, Qambar Shahdadkot, Dadu, and Khairpur districts in Sindh.
These trained PRCS staff and volunteers have conducted 1,200 hygiene promotion sessions in 25 targeted communities, reaching almost 40,000 people in the flood-affected areas.
