Helping Pakistan

We've matched $1540 in donations to Pakistan - thank you for your generosity! 

If you would like to make a donation to Indus Hospital, please visit their donation page. 

Like many of you, we have been following the flooding crisis in Pakistan with horror. Almost a month has passed since the worst natural disaster in Pakistan history, and according to CNN, 1,500 people have died, at least 4 million people are homeless and 20 million lives have been disrupted.

A family evacuates.  Picture courtesy of Oxfam.

Now, residents are battling a number of flood-related illnesses and diseases such as respiratory infections, diarrhea and skin infections. There is a shortage of clean drinking water and food. Millions of acres are under water; homes, farms, livelihoods are lost.

More people have been affected by this flooding than by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Haiti earthquake and the recent earthquake in Pakistan combined.

Although we are so far away, Healthworks wants to help. We are asking for our members to come together and donate to the Indus Hospital in Karachi. The hospital was recommended to us by our friends at Partners in Health as an entity that has been supporting other organizations and opening its facilities to more patients as a result of the disaster.

You can donate to Indus Hospital here. Contributions to this site are tax deductible in the United States. Healthworks will match the first $5,000 in contributions to the Indus Hospital. In order for us to track contributions, please forward a copy of your email receipt to healthworks@healthworksfitness.com. 

Partners in Health also passed along this blog as a source of information about the current status in Pakistan. The sites includes information, news and updates; details on organizations working in the field and how to donate to them, as well as volunteer opportunities. UNICEF's website also has photos and blog posts about the situation in Pakistan.

Healthworks Brookline member Sana Mujahid has many close family members in Pakistan, who thankfully, do not live in the flood inflicted regions. She wrote to us that she can't "fathom what it is like for people who do have family drastically affected by this disaster, or be one of those whose lives have been destroyed overnight."

"Many of them had very few material possessions to begin with and most of it has been swept away," wrote Sana. "With no means of obtaining basic necessities such as food, shelter or medical help, these people are living on very little hope. Let your family and friends know about what is going on so that they can help in any way they can."

The Healthworks family would like to thank everyone in advance for supporting our desire to provide disaster relief. As we rallied as a community earlier this year after the earthquake in Haiti, it is time once again for us to come together to do what we can to help those impacted by the devastation in Pakistan.