Ian Woolverton
2010 pakistan floods
In 2010, Pakistan experienced its worst monsoon floods, impacting 21 million people. Authorities estimate that over 1.2 million houses were damaged or destroyed, forcing nearly one million individuals to live outdoors. The floods resulted in approximately 2,000 deaths.
Two-year-old Anita and her mother, Gulan, lost their home and livestock to the devastating floods. For months, they sheltered under a thin cotton sheet in a makeshift camp on the outskirts of Sukkur city in Sindh Province.
To reach the camp, which housed over 1,000 homeless people, they trekked two hours from Jacobabad. Officials estimate that at least 1,000 camps sprang up from the dust around Sukkur city, ultimately providing shelter for 454,000 flood-affected people.
At just five years old, Javeed is from Kashmoor in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province. For at least 12 days, he lived with his parents and four siblings in a school that was sheltering 2,000 flood-affected people.
Javeed battled a fever and skin rashes during this challenging time. Fortunately, doctors from Save the Children provided him with medicine and lotions to treat his skin infection.
Kareema and her five-year-old son Allah wait in line at a food distribution point run by Save the Children and the United Nation’s World Food Programme. Originally from Jacobabad, they lived in a school that sheltered people made homeless by the floods. For 12 weeks they received rations including wheat flour, cooking oil, and high-energy biscuits.
Husna cradles her one month old boy, Aijaz. For months they sought refuge in one of thousands of camps established on the outskirts of Sukkur in Sindh Province.
Young mother Abida with her newborn son, Mithal. Originally from Jacobabad, Abida spent weeks sheltering in a Sukkur school turned camp for flood affected people. “I cried all the time when the floods came,” said Abida. “Everything just gone. Everything under water. I was very worried for my baby.”
When Abida went into labour Save the Children health workers, having established a basic health care clinic in the grounds of the school, referred her to a local hospital. Abida received medicines for her baby and a newborn kit, which includes items like nappies and baby rash cream.
Kamalan sits with her eldest of three children, Shazia. Sleeping on the floor is the family’s youngest, a four-day-old girl. It is Islamic tradition to name children six days after birth. “Zubair is a good name for a girl,” said Kamalan. “But I don’t know yet.”
Kamalan and her young family lived in a fetid classroom shared with other homeless families. Like so many people, Kamalan’s family fled their home when the River Indus burst its banks flooding thousands of homes.
Two-year-old Ramzan suffered from severe stage three dehydration. His mother Hajra, from Sindh, looks on anxiously as a doctor supported by Save the Children explains she must help her son drink electrolytes to replace lost salts and sugars. For 15 days Ramzan had lived on a baking concrete floor with little access to clean water and food.
Many children like Ramzan became very sick because of the floods.
A CNN cameraman films at one of Save the Children’s basic health clinics in Sukkur. Media plays a vital role in bringing attention to humanitarian crises. By reporting on these situations, media outlets can inform the public and global community about their severity, which can lead to increased support and action.
Mithal, named after his father, at one day old. Swaddled in cotton cloth, Mithal received care from a Save the Children health team in Sukkur.
Like millions of people in Sindh, Abida and husband Ali fled the floods that swept across the land. Heavily pregnant, Abida walked five kilometres to reach the safety of a school in Sukkur. Ali, formerly a rice farmer, said at the time. “Me very happy. I want my son to grow up and to have the education.”
Giovanni Figus, a logistician with Save the Children, managed monthly food distribution to 85,000 flood-affected families in Pakistan. At the time it was the largest ever food distribution in the agency’s history.