HelpAge International is currently distributing 3,500 cold weather kits in Pakistan to help older people this winter.
The kits contain blankets, shawls and other woollen clothing for older people in Nowshera, an area affected by this year’s catastrophic flooding.
Temperatures are already dropping in the country and the coldest months will be December and January when the mercury will plummet to well below freezing.
But although the kits will help meet a basic need, shelter from the harsh weather is the next priority – as older people are particularly vulnerable to the cold. And if they are already affected by the floods, then they are even more at risk.
Winter intensifies vulnerability
“We know from our other ‘winterisation’ projects in countries such as Kyrgyzstan, that extreme cold weather only further intensifies older people’s vulnerabilities,” says Dave Mather, HelpAge’s regional representative for South Asia.
“The search for food and fuel is challenging for many poor households at the best of times. Add mobility problems and poor health to the mix and compound it further with a natural disaster and you have the most vulnerable group there can be in an emergency.”
‘The cold nights are getting tougher’
Khabara Bibi has lived in Nowshera for 27 years and fears the upcoming winter season. She lives alone as her children are married and live with their spouses.
Although she has already received a winter kit from HelpAge International, she is still worried about shelter.
Her house has no access to a toilet or running water. “I haven’t yet received any kind of support to rebuild my house. My nights are getting tougher as it gets cold at night, and I’ve had a fever due to the cold winds,” she says.
We’ll have carers to support older people
Asma Akbar is the country manager for HelpAge International in Pakistan.
She says: “Though the image is often of older people living with their extended family this is often not the case. The relatives are not around.
“In winter we hope to have teams of companions and carers coming to support older people.
“We’ll be increasing the distribution of the winter kits and have more “age-friendly” approaches for specific shelters.
“We will also encourage other agencies to build houses with very few steps, and ensure older people have only short walks to water and sanitation facilities.
“Mobility in the winter months is a problem for older people across the world. It’s no different in Pakistan.
“At least 3 million people with disabilities and older people have been affected by the floods. Very often these vulnerable groups are forgotten in the humanitarian response and reconstruction phase.
“If particular attention is not paid towards them, they will remain largely ‘invisible’.”
Flood appeal raises £62m
Meanwhile the UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) says its Pakistan Floods Appeal has so far raised £62 million.
This moves the appeal into the top three of the most generously supported appeals in the charity’s 45-year history, alongside the 2004 tsunami and the Haiti earthquake.
Fundraising for the floods will continue until the end of January 2011.
AgeUK, sister organisation to HelpAge International, is a member organisation of the DEC.