austraLasia #2702
ASMOAF director visits Pakistan
BRISBANE: 27 August 2010 -- (The following excerpted from
a larger report which appeared in the Brisbane Catholic Leader
22 August 2010).
"CARITAS Australia and several Australian Catholic religious orders are
urgently calling for support as they respond to the escalating human
tragedy unfolding in Pakistan where more than 20 million people are
affected by the worst floods the country has seen in decades.
Caritas chief executive officer Jack de Groot said
the floods were impacting on "more people than the 2004 Boxing Day
tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir and this year's Haiti earthquakes combined".
Australia's Salesian Mission Office (ASMOAF)
director, Br Michael Lynch, who arrived in Lahore on August 14, said
food shortages were a major problem with crops destroyed and livestock
drowned.
The floods, the worst in 80 years, triggered by
July's torrential monsoonal downpours, have engulfed Pakistan's Indus
River basin, killing more than 1600 people, forcing an estimated 20
million people from their homes.
Mr de Groot said the situation was becoming more
precarious for everyone as the days passed. "The sick, old, frail and
very young are the most susceptible to disease and illness," he said.
"Water-borne illnesses and diseases like cholera and diarrhoea are
threatening the survivors."Mr de Groot said much of Caritas' work was
focusing on Shangla, one of the most affected districts in the KPK
province.
Br Lynch said the Salesian presence in Pakistan "was
very small - just two houses - one in Quetta and the other in Lahore".
The Salesian Brother said he had been invited to Pakistan to
participate in a ceremony to open extensions to the Don Bosco Technical
School in Lahore on August 16.The school has 220 students and the
rector and principal is Fr Miguel Ruiz.
The disastrous floods have occurred since Br Lynch
received the invitation.
"The main problems I'm hearing about are the
shortage of food and shelter and the threat of disease," Br Lynch said.
"After night prayers on my second night in Lahore, I spoke to a group
of lads from flood-ravaged districts; they said it was the worst
flooding they had seen. Some climbed trees to escape the torrent of
water. Old and fragile people unable to move quickly were swept away
and died. Oil refineries and power plants were destroyed in the floods.
In some areas two political parties (both Muslim) were fighting each
other on what should be done."
Br Lynch said that, once floodwaters subsided, Fr
Ruiz planned to work with students to rebuild homes and agricultural
projects, assisting in the first instance families who have lost
everything and whose sons are in Don Bosco Technical School, Lahore.
"There are more than 100 such families," he said.
The Jesuits also have religious in the area. Fr Phil
Crotty, Bro Lynch's counterpart for the Jesuit Mission Office, says:
"Fr Zecchin, formerly of South Australia, has been involved with the
mission there for the past 20 years. He's been in Australia for the
past few months but now is returning to Lahore. The plan is to first
start looking at rebuilding houses that have been destroyed and to also
link up with the Salesians".
Meanwhile, a fuller report on the work being spearheader by Fr Zago and
his team of volunteers is available from ANS. Fr Zago sends the
following information for anyone wishing to provide direct assistance:
Bank
name and address: Askaribank / Jinnah Road / Quetta 87300 / Pakistan
Account
owner : Peter Zago/ Palmieri Cristobal
Euro a/c no.:
030413400108 / USD a/c no. : 03213000142
Swift: ASCMPKKA
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