The heaviest monsoon rains in 80 years continue to fall on northwest and central Pakistan. Rivers in the Sindh province are bursting their banks, affecting some 5 million people. More rain is forecast, and the region is still only midway through the monsoon season.

According to the BBC at least 1600 people have been killed in the past week and some two million left homeless. The Pakistan authorities have appealed for help from the international community. The most immediate needs are for shelter, food and medicines.

YWAM workers in Pakistan are in a position to help and are organising a rapid response relief effort to help the poorest, most marginalised groups affected by the flood.

YWAM Pakistan has been responding to the victims of Pakistan’s natural disasters since 2005 when a huge quake devastated the lives of millions. The agency creates simple and effective rapid response teams to distribute food and aid to where no one else is going.

The current flood is a disaster on a huge scale. Even government ministers are asking for help to find their relatives. The bureaucracy and logistical preparations of large military organizations, though essential, all take time. Small rapid response teams like those YWAM is putting together are fast and cost effective. They can get help to neglected communities before it is too late.

The students from the current Discipleship Training School are on hand to serve, as are the partners and volunteers from Punjab and Sindh provinces who helped YWAM relief work during the floods of 2007.

“My relatives are in the affected area,” says Margaret from the YWAM DTS centre in Pakistan, “They don’t answer my calls, I don’t know what has happened to them, we must help those we can.”

Mr Zafar Francis, Chairman of YWAM Pakistan, who has been in the UK for the past month, is returning to supervise the Rapid Response teams. As soon as funds are available, they will be distributing aid to those in immediate need and looking to what is needed for the future.

“We will be looking for the poorest of the poor,” says Zafar. “They are usually communities living on the edge of society in rural areas. They will be totally destitute if the river Indus bursts its banks, destroys crops and washes away their mud houses.

It is displaced people such as these who will need our help. They will need food, clothes, fresh water and plastic sheeting for shelter from sun and rain.”

YWAM Pakistan needs immediate financial help in order to buy the supplies and organize delivery of aid to the needy.

Donate now to help YWAM staff and students provide emergency care to those who have lost everything in the past week. Just US$32 or £20 will cover an aid pack containing food, children’s clothing, water purifiers and a tarpaulin. See the YWAM Relief website for more information.