Report Dated - 10/5/2010
After bridging a critical staffing gap for our partners, EMI's second team to Pakistan returned safely home September 19th. The scope of the disaster is a little overwhelming – 20 million people over a land mass the size of the UK and the length of Italy have been affected by this flooding. Food for the Hungry is targeting 5,500 severely affected families in the Punjab area and providing them with shelter, water purification, kitchen, and hygiene kits. EMI designed and constructed a demonstration emergency shelter. The trucks have arrived, and relief supplies are being handed out.

Emergency shelters are now being constructed all over our target area. EMI's distribution and training of water purification systems helped pave the way for the peaceful distribution of these desperately-needed supplies.

So, nine years after September 11th, 2001, EMI had a team on the ground in Pakistan. We appreciate your giving and prayers that have enabled them to go and show God's love in a practical way during this critical time in the lives of those Pakistanis suffering from the flooding. May God receive all the glory.

See this link for more photos from the Pakistan flood.
Mission Network News interviews Food for the Hungry's Pete Howard:

• Disease looms over Pakistan's flood survivors
• Food for the Hungry fights floods with local partner

We’ve received permission to use pictures and parts of the above from Food for the Hungry’s website, as they are our partners on this.


Report Dated - 9/9/2010
We just returned from a long drive out to one of the more remote and unreached communities in this disaster. After an irrigation canal sidewall failed, this community of over 200 Muslim, Christian, and Hindu families was inundated with water over 30km from the Indus River. Most lost everything but their lives. They are set up on dry land, some 1,000 meters or so from their swamped village. "How long will it take for the waters to recede?", I asked. Six months, they estimated.

EMI's assessment team visited this ad-hoc encampment in August and everyone in the village remembered their names well. In a very encouraging meeting with village leaders and lookers-on, we took some time to listen to their true needs. Shelter and water were tops, followed by useful items and food stores that were lost in the flooding. In response to the clean water needs, we distributed some water filters we brought with us, and taught a few select individuals how to use and care for them. A small fleet's worth of trucks loaded with shelter, hygiene, and kitchen kits will launch from Islamabad sometime next week to our location. By setting up a few simple water purification systems in the affected villages, EMI is laying a foundation of relationship in these communities to allow Food for the Hungry's distribution of greatly-needed items to proceed without incident.

Would you partner with us as we strive to demonstrate God's love in a practical way to the people of Pakistan? They are more receptive now than ever. Please donate here to EMI's disaster response efforts. Thank you for your prayers that the flood waters would recede and that God would meet all the physical and spiritual needs of the people of Pakistan.



Report Dated - 8/23/2010
EMI now has a team of two volunteers on the ground in Pakistan. Their purpose is to assess the situation, report back the needs, identify gaps in the relief effort, and suggest ways in which EMI, Food for the Hungry, and their local partners can intervene. Here are some excerpts from their reports:

• The camps and communities we visited have been essentially unserved and are in dire need of shelter, water, sanitation, food and hygiene. Minority Christian and Hindu communities are especially hard hit… up to 98% of water sources tested are unfit for consumption…
• We also got a good look at the extent of devastation caused by the flooding... We were standing at the limits of the flooding and, according to my GPS, the normal river banks were more than 30 km away. Within 100 meters of the limits, the water still appeared to be 3 meters deep and the government was warning that it may start coming back up again.

About one-fifth of Pakistan is under water. About 20 million people are affected by this disaster. Cases of communicable diseases such as acute respiratory infections, scabies, and acute diarrhea are numbering in the hundreds of thousands. An agency testing water quality found that up to 98% of water sources tested are unfit for consumption. Water and sanitation are critical needs, and EMI is working to come up with solutions and meet immediate needs. Would you help EMI and our partners by making a donation toward these needs? Thank you for prayerfully considering making a gift today.


Report Dated - 8/13/2010
Nearly two weeks after monsoon rains caused the worst flooding in Pakistan memory across the country, the death toll exceeds 1,600 people, with several hundred people still missing, several million people displaced, and more than 14 million affected.

EMI is mobilizing a team of two structural and civil engineers to serve our partners, Food for the Hungry. Their task is to assess the situation and advise FH and EMI headquarters on water, sanitation, hygiene, and shelter interventions to aid the Pakistani people. Food for the Hungry’s Emergency Response Unit (ERU) is working through a local partner on the ground, responding in the Nowshara and Charsaada districts with emergency supplies such as:

• Tents, mattresses, and bed sheets,
• Cooking utensils, jerry cans and water coolers
• Shoes, clothes and hygiene kits, and
• Food for children 2 years and younger.

Please pray for flood survivors in Pakistan and for families that have been displaced from their homes. Pray that God would comfort them and provide through their suffering. Pray that the flood waters would continue to recede and relief would reach those in need. Pray for our two EMI volunteers, for God to be glorified in their efforts, for partnership doors to be opened, and for divine protection.