Pakistan flood

AFGHANISTAN “DEVASTATED” BY MONSOON FLOODS

Hundreds of thousands now face starvation as crops, soils washed away
 

Rescue Task Force seeks help to save lives of Afghan women & girls at literary schools
 

By Miriam Raftery
August 19, 2010 (San Diego) –“The same floods that are hitting Pakistan are hitting Afghanistan. It’s just horrific,” said Gary Becks, founder of Rescue Task Force, a San Diego-based nonprofit that has its roots in East County. 

 

Becks has led relief efforts in some of the worst disasters on earth including the Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, major earthquakes, and the Cedar Fire. But the scale of devastation in Afghanistan goes far beyond even those catastrophes. Threats from the Taliban make relief efforts dangerous—and with farmlands washed away, the very survival of the Hazara people is at stake.


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PAKISTAN FLOOD NOW WORST HUMANITARIAN CRISIS EVER; SAN DIEGANS PITCH IN TO HELP VICTIMS


4 million homeless, 20 million people impacted, one-fifth of nation underwater in disaster worse than Hurricane Katrina, Haiti earthquake, or Asian tsunami

By Miriam Raftery

ECM intern Tasneem Kassamali also contributed to this story.

August 19, 2010 (San Diego) – San Diego State University finance student and software engineer Omed Habib was cleaning his closet when he heard about the floods devastating Pakistan.

 

“I am a child of Afghan refugees,” said Habib, whose parents came to the U.S. during the Soviet-Afghanistan War in 1981. Knowing what it’s like for a family to lose everything, he asked a friend involved in relief efforts how he could donate three bags of his clothing to Pakistan flood victims. Then he posted a notice on Facebook asking 500 friends for more help.


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Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.