Four IOM response teams have been deployed to districts in Pakistan
devastated by flash floods in late June in order to assess people's
ongoing needs and to monitor and report on the provision of
services and to assist in the distribution of relief items.

The IOM operation, funded by World Food Programme and the UN's
Central Emergency Response Fund, is also helping to bring clean
drinking water to displaced people and to distribute hygiene kits*,
jerry cans and cooking sets.

The Pakistan National Disaster Management Authority has
prioritized north-western Sindh and eastern Balochistan districts
for the distribution of IOM relief items and tankers are delivering
80,000 litres of drinking water to displaced people in the area
every day.

An estimated 2.5 million people were affected by flooding
following four days of heavy rain in late June this year in
Balochistan and Sindh, which left 324 dead. Some 6,500 villages
were affected by the floods and 80,000 houses were destroyed. More
than 370,000 people were displaced, many of whom are now living in
schools, makeshift roadside shelters or with relatives. Over 35,000
people are now living in camps.

"Following the floods, hygiene and the spread of disease among
the displaced population became a major concern. So our focus has
been on providing hygiene kits and ensuring that people have access
to clean drinking water," says Brian Kelly, head of IOM Pakistan's
Emergency Response Unit.

IOM, through its implementing partner Mercy Corps, is targeting
at least 7,500 vulnerable families, including women or child-headed
households, the elderly and the disabled.

The IOM teams have also carried out assessment missions in
Jaffarabad, Nasirabad, Bolan, Jhal Magsi, Kharan, Mastung, Khuzdar,
Noshki, Awaran, Turbat and Lasbella districts of Balochistan. In
Sindh, the teams assessed Dadu and Kamber-Shahdadkot districts.

*Each hygiene kit contains ziploc bags, sanitary items for
women, eight bars of soap, shampoo, a comb, a mirror and oral
rehydration salts.

For more information please contact:

Saleem Rehmat

IOM Islamabad

Tel. +92.3008565967

E-mail: "mailto:srehmat@iom.int">srehmat@iom.int