More than 33 million people were impacted by the unprecedented floods in Pakistan last year. Over 1100 people died, and over 14 million people had their homes and properties damaged or destroyed. Millions were forced to seek shelter in makeshift camps.

While a lot of the flooding has receded, 5 million people are still currently living in flood-affected areas. Seven million children are need of nutrition services. And over four million people lack access to basic health care services.

For many families, the recovery has been painfully slow. “We suffered from COVID-19, then floods hit our area, and my house was swept away,” says Lal Bat

Lal has lived in Pakistan for forty years with his wife and four children.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, he provided for his family working as a casual laborer. Curfews and other restrictions enforced to reduce the spread of COVID-19 affected his work meaning he could no longer provide for his family. “I barely made enough to buy food and other home essentials,” recalls Lal.

Eventually Lal was able to return to his role as a labourer, but soon after disaster struck.

“We were just trying to cope with the effects of COVID-19 then the floods destroyed everything I had.”

Lal’s home was almost completely destroyed in the flooding, leaving him and his family without a place, and without work and money to rebuild.

Lal has since returned to his job as a laborer but makes less than $2 a day.

It is not enough to cover his family’s living costs or repair the damage to his home.

Even worse, the mounting costs meant he was unable to send his children to school “I can’t send my kids to the local school on this income. We try… and we want to move forward, but we need help”

“I didn’t have enough money to re-construct my home!”

Relief International was able to support Lal and his family get back on their feet.

“We received overwhelming assistance from Relief International through cash, food baskets, dignity and hygiene kits, and even health education sessions,” says Lal.

When the floods first hit, RI teams mobilized quickly in three regions of Pakistan to provide much needed emergency assistance.

At the start or the emergency, we distributed food, drinking water, hygiene kits and trained the affected families on how to prevent water-borne diseases.

As relief and recovery efforts commenced, Relief International has continued to provide critical services including installing new communal water pump to provide safe drinking water, distributing of hygiene and dignity kits, re-establishing livelihood activities through cash transfers, training affected households to avoid waterborne diseases, and providing mental health services for people affected by trauma caused by the emergency.

These services were life-changing for Lal.

“I attended a psycho-social session conducted by Relief International and it helped me recover and work on solutions to the problems instead of giving myself away with the flow of disasters,” recalls Lal.

With RI’s help Lal was able to get his children back into education “My wife and I decided to educate our children in RI-established safe learning centers.”

“I was also able to rebuild my house, and I paid off my debts with the cash assistance I got from RI.”

“Now, I want to learn some skills and start earning to sustain my living and not be dependent on anyone.”

Relief International remains committed to supporting families like Lal’s for the long term; to recover and rebuild stronger than ever.