Guernsey gives £20,000 to Pakistan flood appeal

Relief camps have become home to hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their houses to the floods

Guernsey has donated £20,000 to help those impacted by the Pakistan floods.

A £10,000 donation from Guernsey's Rotary Club has now been matched by the island's Overseas Aid and Development Commission (OADC).

The commission and the Rotary Guernesiais have agreed a "community partnership".

The OADC has doubled the club's £10,000 donation, provided by the John Ramplin Charitable Trust, to disaster relief charity, ShelterBox.

The money will provide aid to the people of Pakistan, where 30 million have been affected by "exceptional" rains and "devastating" floods, said the OADC.

At its peak, the disaster left a third of Pakistan underwater.

Cemeteries, houses and farmland were flooded in the Sinnd province of Pakistan

Deputy Chris Blin, president of the OADC, said the partnership would "strengthen" the Bailiwick community's "already good" support for overseas aid.

He thanked the rotary club and trust for their "positive actions" and said other organisations could apply to "double" their fundraising money.

Diane Ward, president of Rotary Guernesiais, said she was "delighted" by the match funding,

Natalie Pougher, trusts and foundations executive for ShelterBox, said the donation would make a "positive difference".

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the floods had receded, but large areas of stagnant water remained and millions were in need of medical care and millions of houses had been destroyed.

ShelterBox is providing tarpaulins, water filters, solar lights and mosquito nets.

The commission has already agreed to give £50,000 to the British Red Cross and £20,000 to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

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