Local group raising money for millions affected by Pakistan flooding

An Edmonton group is raising money for victims of Pakistan's Indus River flooding, which has killed more than 1,100 people, injured 3,500 and affected 33 million since mid-June.

Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama`at, an Islamic organization which originated in Punjab, is soliciting donations with Humanity First Canada, which is providing emergency supplies and on-ground support in Pakistan.

"There are reports of more than 1,000 dead or missing, but I'm sure the reports will be coming in that the scale might be much higher than that. At the same time, over 10 million houses have been flooded. To put that into perspective, that's equal to almost every house in Canada," explained Humayun Ahmed, the vice president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama`at west Edmonton chapter.

"So many areas have become inaccessible. People who are working in relief camps, people who are trying to help, the government and the charities, they're trying to access those people and help the stranded people in those inaccessible areas."

Images taken by NASA on Aug. 28 show how a combination of heavy rain and an overflowing of the Indus River have turned part of the southern Sindh province into a 100-kilometre-wide inland lake.

The 2022 monsoon season is the wettest on record since Pakistan began keeping track in 1961.

Ahmed said all of the money collected is being used by Humanity First to provide help in Pakistan in the form of food and water, tents, medical supplies, and other emergency items.

Humayun Ahmed, vice president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama`at west Edmonton chapter, talks to CTV News Edmonton on Aug. 31, 2022, about the fundraising for Pakistan flooding victims his organization is doing with Humanity First Canada.

"We have family and friends over there who are affected," Ahmed told CTV News Edmonton of his fellow Ahmadis. "I myself come from the southern part of Punjab and the communities are very close to the river because almost all of them are farming communities.

"So the impact, I personally know it. It is very real."

With files from CTVNews.ca and CTV News Edmonton's Brandon Lynch