Birmingham MP describes ‘devastating’ Pakistan floods

 A Birmingham MP has described the ongoing floods in Pakistan as “devastating”.

Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmood was visiting friends and family there before the flooding began and extended his stay to help out.

Currently in Islamabad, he urged people to provide whatever support they could.

The flash floods, caused by record monsoon rains, have killed at least 1,136 people and affected more than 33 million.

They have been described as a “monsoon on steroids” by the UN and Pakistan’s planning minister has said early estimates suggest at least $10bn (£8.5bn) of damage.

Mr Mahmood said he has friends in the Sindh and Balochistan provinces which have both been badly affected.

He also has constituents whose families are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and he has been liaising with those back in Birmingham to see how he can help.

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“A lot of people are now getting together and putting aid into those areas, providing food, whatever they can, money to the charities that already exist in Pakistan and getting as much as they possibly can to those people,” he said.

“If you look at some of the footage, it is absolutely devastating.

“In Punjab and predominantly in Balochistan and Sindh they are very flat areas – people in those rural areas live essentially in mud houses… which literally are just crumbling under the pressure of the water as it comes through.”

He said they were losing their livelihoods as crops and animals were “washed away”, with many areas cut off and only accessible by helicopter because bridges and roads have been destroyed.

Mr Mahmood, who hopes to return to the UK this weekend, advised those wanting to help to give to aid agencies.

More than 33 million people in Pakistan have been affected by the flooding

Zia Salik, the head of fundraising for Islamic Relief UK, has been providing outreach for people in Pakistan.

“The community in the UK has always been generous but obviously we have a huge Pakistani diaspora who have got friends and family back home, so everybody is feeling emotionally connected to this crisis and responding to it in the only way that they can and that is to raise funds,” he said.

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