RedR Australia response to Pakistan
RedR Australia has deployed five people from its Standby Register to the relief operation in Pakistan.
The monsoonal rains and subsequent flooding have submerged one fifth of the country causing a devastating impact on 20 million people.
After returning from a recent airdrop, one RedR member saw families living on their roof tops.
Two RedR members are also working around the clock to move tonnes of food and supplies, and further air movement assistance will be provided by a specialist from the Standby Register. A Humanitarian Affairs Officer is working with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) which is tasked with ensuring that information is exchanged so that a coordinated response between aid agencies is achieved.
Another contributor, who has only recently returned from an assignment in Haiti, is en route to Pakistan to ensure humanitarian workers have the IT and telecommunications they require to launch relief operations.
A Child Protection Officer will also be deployed to work to ensure the needs of the most vulnerable are met during this difficult time in their lives.
RedR Australia is waiting to hear whether other nominees will be taken up by the UN relief agencies. The situation on the ground is changing daily and therefore staffing needs change with it.
Disaster relief personnel on RedR Australia's Register remain on standby ready to respond to the threat posed more flooding in the south of the nation. The anticipation is that coming months will include the mobilisation of more specialists, in response to emerging needs.
Image: Elderly men evacuating the flooded town of Nowshera, northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan 1 August 2010. Source: REUTERS/Adrees Latif
