Floods are devastating Pakistan, leaving millions in need of urgent help to survive.
Collection this Sunday at St Marys’ Church
As a Church Community, we are committed to holding a collection for appeals by the Disasters Emergency Committee on the Sunday following the launch of an appeal. There is information below about other methods of giving.
With thanks. Pauline (Chair, Pastoral Care & Social Justice Committee)
Please click here for more information about the DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal
Devastating floods have hit Pakistan, submerging vast areas of land and leaving 6 million people in need of urgent help.
According to the government of Pakistan, a third of the country – equivalent to an area the size of the UK – is underwater, in what the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called a “climate catastrophe”. Whole villages have been cut off, with rescuers struggling to reach them. At least 1,100 people have been killed and 1,500 injured.
Aid agencies are scrambling to respond to meet people’s basic needs such as food, clean water and shelter, and the government of Pakistan has called for international assistance to provide humanitarian aid.
Huge areas of agricultural land have been affected, with crops swept away and three quarters of a million livestock killed, which will mean many people going hungry in the longer term. There is also a high risk from water-borne diseases spreading in affected areas.
DEC charities are providing life-saving aid either directly or through local partners. But they urgently need more funds to reach more people. The UK Government will match pound-for-pound up to £5 million donated by the public to this appeal.
The charity, tearfund, is offering support for prayer for the people of Pakistan:
Pray for people affected by the floods
• Pray for those who have lost their loved ones. Ask God to draw near to them and comfort them in this time of grief.
• Pray for provision of clean water, food and safe shelter for people who have lost their belongings, homes, livestock and livelihoods. Ask God to give them courage and strength during these challenging times.
• Pray for protection from illness as flooding brings the risk of waterborne diseases. As people are forced to sleep outside or in tents, ask God to keep people safe from attacks and from mosquito and animal bites.
Pray for those responding to the flooding
• Pray for wisdom and energy for local, national and international leaders as they respond to this crisis.
• Ask God to free up resources to enable them to quickly help those in need and to provide long-term solutions to survivors, especially those who have been made homeless or who have lost jobs.
• As the crisis continues, pray for strength and energy for healthcare workers and other first-responders who are working around the clock to help.
Pray for the church
• Pray that the entire church in Pakistan will be resourced to serve people who are suffering.
• Pray for church leaders – many of whom have lost their homes and church buildings too – and who are still living out God’s call to care for anyone in their community in need.
• Pray for the church in the UK to come together to speak up for the people of Pakistan, and to use its resources and influence to help those who are suffering.
Pray for vulnerable adults and children
• Pray for people who have mobility issues, for whom escaping from the floods will be more difficult. Pray that they will be given the support they need.
• Pray for protection for pregnant and nursing mothers, and for their babies
• Pray for unaccompanied children – those who have become separated from their families or orphaned. Pray that God’s angels will surround, guide and protect them.
Pray for action to tackle the climate crisis
• Pray for the heavy rainfall to stop, for flood waters to recede and for no more landslides.
• Lament the injustice of the climate crisis – how it’s affecting people living in poverty, like those in Pakistan, the most.
• Pray that wealthier countries will honour the pledge they made at previous UN climate talks to help lower-income countries adapt to the climate crisis.