Save the Children is responding to the urgent needs of thousands of children in India and Pakistan after six weeks of torrential rain has left families homeless, in need of food and at risk of water-borne diseases. In India, unprecedented flooding has affected more than ten million people in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Save the Children has mounted a country-wide emergency response to bring relief to 11,600 flood-affected families.

Save the Children is the only international aid agency responding in Jammu and Kashmir, where flooding has affected 36,000 families. Hundreds of houses, public buildings, bridges and schools have collapsed or been damaged. The extreme weather has left children vulnerable and it is essential that health facilities and schools are re-opened quickly.

Ladakh Zonal Director Deen Khan said: "This is without doubt the worst natural disaster to have occurred in this region in the last thirty years. It is certainly more serious than the Indus floods in 1978, which is what first brought Save the Children to the region."

In Andhra Pradesh, where more than 88,000 houses have been damaged by flooding, Save the Children has provided shelter materials and relief items such as water storage cans to more than 1,000 families. The charity is also providing note books, pens and pencils for children and is aiming to reach a total of around 24,000 children. In the desert state of Rajasthan, 1,000 families are getting essential household supplies.

PAKISTAN

In Pakistan, around 50,000 families have been affected by flooding in the Sindh region of the country. Around 200 people have died and over 10,000 people have been hospitalised - as in any emergency it is children and women who make up the majority of these figures.

Hundreds of villages have been submerged by flood-water after drains and canals in the region were breached. Up to 80% of crops have been completely lost and large numbers of livestock have died. Stagnant standing water is delaying the start of the wheat-planting season and also creates a real health risk as people are exposed to water-borne diseases such as malaria and diarrhoea.

Save the Children UK is to provide immediate relief to 8,000 children and their families in the districts of Mirpurkhas and Sanghar in Pakistan. The charity and its local partners will provide food and hygiene kits containing soap, mosquito nets and water purifiers.

Pakistan Programme Director Madeline Wright said: "Following last year's earthquake, some donors are simply not seeing the scale of this disaster and have been slow to respond but we must act now to help these vulnerable children. "

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