GFA World Launches Aid Effort Amid Pakistan’s Deadly ‘Monsoon On Steroids’

Children salvage a cot from their flood-hit home, in Charsadda, Pakistan.

STONEY CREEK, -based GFA World (www.gfa.ca) — one of the largest humanitarian agencies in the world and its field partners — are rushing to bring aid to flood-stricken families in the throes of Pakistan’s devastating “monsoon on steroids.”

Massive-scale flooding caused by weeks of heavy monsoon rains has engulfed a third of the country, claiming more than 1,100 lives and impacting 33 million people — more than the entire population of Australia.

“Compassion Services teams have undergone emergency training and are now implementing that training in Pakistan by delivering basic medicine, water, food and clothing,” said GFA World founder K.P. Yohannan, also known as Metropolitan Yohan.

Disaster Relief Underway

GFA World — which supports thousands of national workers across Asia and Africa — said distressed families will “know they are loved and cared for when they receive help from the compassion teams on the ground.” Read more here: www.gfa.ca/press/flooding22

“Having been born and raised in a flood-prone region of South Asia, I’m intimately familiar with the devastation flooding can cause,” said Yohannan. “I’ve seen the grief and hopelessness that surrounds people who’ve lost loved ones, homes or livelihoods.

“When they realize they’re not alone and will be taken care of, their hope surges.”

Everything Swept Away by Monsoon

The heaviest rainfall in living memory has caused rivers to burst their banks, submerging entire villages and towns, bulldozing homes, and sweeping away crops and livestock. United Nations officials have described it as a “monsoon on steroids” with a month of the season still to go.

Millions of displaced and homeless families are sleeping in the open, desperate for food, and forced to drink unsafe floodwater. Officials warn diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery and other waterborne diseases, as well as malaria, will likely spread as the floodwaters recede, creating a health crisis of huge magnitude.

Yohannan called for “urgent prayer for the millions facing grave jeopardy and incalculable loss.”

“The people of Pakistan are crying out for our help,” Yohannan said, “and this is our moment to pray, give, and show them that God has not deserted them.”