Working together to end poverty and injustice

Pakistan floods

One year after the floods, Oxfam has helped over 2.4 million people. But more than 800,000 families remain homeless and more than a million people still need food.

One year on from the devastating 2010 floods, Oxfam has helped over 2.4 million people recover. But with fresh flooding in September 2011, families now face the renewed threat to their lives and livelihoods. More than five million people are affected so far. Funds are needed to help Oxfam supply clean water and sanitation to nearly 850,000 people. Oxfam also has plans to help people get access to food and is developing projects to help people earn a living.

You can help

Oxfam aims to respond immediately to humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters, but we can only do this if we have funds ready when they are needed. You can help:

• Donate now to Oxfam's disaster response fund
• or call on 0800 400 666

The situation

The worst floods in living memory hit Pakistan in 2010, inundating about one-fifth of the country, destroying 1.6 million homes and affecting 20 million people. One year on, Oxfam has provided support to over 2.4 million people with humanitarian aid in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh and Azad Jammu Kashmir.

Hundreds of thousands of people, however, are still in need of help. Around 37,000 people affected by the floods are still living in camps in Sindh alone. More than 800,000 families are without proper homes and more than a million people still need food.

Many flood defences, such as river embankments, were destroyed in last year’s floods and have not yet been properly repaired, increasing the likelihood of breaches in future floods. As Pakistan faces another monsoon season and the likelihood of more disasters, Oxfam's latest report show the country is not prepared.

• Read Oxfam's report: Pakistan’s resilience to disasters one year on from the floods:
  Read full paper (PDF 1.23MB)
  Read summary (PDF 665KB)

Oxfam is there

Oxfam has provided over 1.6 million people with clean water.

Over the past year we have reached over 2.4 million people with humanitarian aid in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh and Azad Jammu Kashmir. We've provided safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, as well as tents and cash grants. We've also been running cash-for-work programmes, where people in need of help are paid to carry out vital rebuilding and rehabilitation work.

• Oxfam has provided 1.6 million people with clean water through installing water tanks, repairing wells and water pipes, and trucking water to communities with no safe water supply.
• We have reached more than 1.4 million people with our hygiene kits and health promotion work.
• Over 600,000 people have benefited from our food security and livelihoods support, which includes helping people start replanting land, providing funds and training to revitalise small businesses, and distributing emergency food rations.
• We have provided shelter for 232,000 people.
• In the initial phase of the aid effort, we helped safely evacuate more than 240,900 people trapped by the floods.
• Read our one year on report: Pakistan Floods Progress Report July 2010-11 (PDF)
• In the Shikapur district of Sindh, through local NGO partner PDI (Participatory Development Initiative), Oxfam had identified 92 villages to work in. Together we installed 244 emergency latrines, at a cost of just 2,000 rupees each (NZ$30). They also distributed winter kits to 6,200 families in the 92 villages. Take a look at the construction of one of these latrines in timelapse.

Find out more

• Read more on Oxfam's flood response
• In pictures: Pakistan floods
• Interactive Google map
• Podcast: update from Oxfam's Qasim Barech

You can help

Oxfam aims to respond immediately to humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters, but we can only do this if we have funds ready when they are needed. You can help:

• Donate now to Oxfam's Disaster Response Fund
• or call on 0800 400 666