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 (NRSP) ShelterBox tents in the Punjab region of Pakistan.
ShelterBox Increases Aid to Flood-Hit Pakistan
AUGUST 26, 2010ShelterBox Thousands of displaced Pakistani families will find new homes and have access to clean water to drink as international disaster relief charity, ShelterBox, confirms its latest deployments. When the catastrophic flooding hit Pakistan ShelterBox was able to respond within 48 hours distributing tents to hundreds of families who had lost their homes. Since then the charity has sent out enough shelter and water filtration systems, known as LifeStraws, to help thousands of families."The first priority for us is always providing shelter," said ShelterBox Head of Operations, John Leach. "Within the next few weeks we will have sent out enough shelter for over 6,000 families. But we’re also responding to the second priority which is getting clean water to those who need it most by upping the number of water filtration units we send out to 20,000."Mark Pearson, ShelterBox Response Team member, said: "As Pakistan enters its third week of floods the need for aid gets more and more urgent. Millions are homeless, without clean drinking water, and the risks from those two factors alone are massive. A simple thing like a tent can mean the difference between life or death and a water filtration system like a LifeStraw will stop waterborne diseases in their tracks."These latest deployments are part of a wider, ongoing aid programme to help those affected by the catastrophic flooding in Pakistan. Current UN estimates report that over 4 million people are without shelter, 6 million people do not have access to clean water and at least 3.5 million children are at risk of contracting deadly diseases such as diarrhea and cholera. In total around 20 million people are affected by the growing disaster and are in immediate need of humanitarian aid. Mark continues, "A cholera epidemic is a worst case scenario. If one LifeStraw can prevent a child from contracting that killer disease then it is worth us sending 20,000 more."View a slideshow of photographs from the Punjab region: shelterbox.org/news. Photography by NRSP.
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