Pakistan Floods Appeal: Older people lose homes and livelihoods in unprecedented disaster

The DEC and its member agencies, including Age International, today launched a Pakistan Floods Appeal to get help to the 33 million people affected by devastating flooding, including older people and their families who have lost homes, livestock and livelihoods. Many are trapped by the floods and urgently need help. By donating to our appeal, you can help provide shelter, food and water, and ensure older people get what they need to survive.

The flooding has been caused by excessive monsoon rainfall. Over 1000 people have died and 1,500 injured, with one-third of the country under water – an area almost the size of Great Britain. Entire communities have been swept away, with 2 million acres of crops affected and nearly 800,000 livestock lost. Conditions are expected to worsen as the rains continue.

Our emergency response is being led by our partner HelpAge Pakistan. Despite the huge scale of the disaster and the difficulty of access, HelpAge Pakistan is already present and responding in the worst affected regions, Balochistan and Sindh, as well as other provinces. The immediate focus of relief efforts will be to save lives, prevent the spread of waterborne diseases and provide shelter and sustenance to those who have lost everything

Older people and people with disabilities are often overlooked in humanitarian emergencies so our response will prioritise them and ensure their specific needs are met. As well as age increasing vulnerability to becoming sick from the cold and water-borne diseases, older people may struggle with mobility, sight or hearing, and need specific food and medications.

Syed Moez, Country Director for HelpAge Pakistan, said:

“So many older people are facing huge challenges to survive because of poor mobility and health issues, for example, but they are being ignored by the humanitarian response.

“Food aid being dropped from planes, as we are seeing now, excludes older people from the outset because they cannot run to retrieve the food. The humanitarian response needs to ensure that support reaches where it is needed most, and that includes targeting older people.”

Whilst the government of Pakistan is also responding to the crisis, it has called on the global community for aid – the country is among the ten most affected by extreme weather events despite a very low carbon footprint. The country was already facing severe economic challenges and still dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We’ve worked with HelpAge Pakistan for the past 12 years including on climate-related emergencies and other emergencies such as floods, earthquakes, extreme cold weather and, earlier this year, heatwaves, so we know they are well placed to respond to the needs of older people in this emergency. However, the current disaster is on an unprecedented scale. We need your help to ensure we can get life-saving help to older people in need today.