CERF support brings some relief for flood-affected communities in Pakistan

Manan, aged 75, lost everything when floodwaters rose to 13 feet in Basti Mazaari, Alipur, Pakistan.

“My relative helped me take out our belongings, but most of our things were washed away in the flood,” she said, as she recalled what happened prior to her displacement.

“Some were saying the water is rising, while others claimed it was getting better,” recalls Manan as she describes the chaos.

“We stayed on the embankment for nearly a week with nothing to eat,” she narrated, adding, “But afterwards, some kind people brought cooked food for us.”

With support from the OCHA-managed UN Global Emergency Fund (CERF), the International Organization for Migration in Pakistan (IOM Pakistan) distributed emergency shelter kits, kitchen sets, protective supplies against the cold wintry weather, and mosquito nets.

“We have received shawls, quilts, a tent, and some utensils,” she said. “May God bless those who helped us happy.”

These kits mean everything when you have lost everything. But the vulnerabilities are ever present. “Sometimes we get food and sometimes we remain hungry,” Manan said.

“Now the severe cold is killing us, and there’s no source of income. Our life is passing with great difficulty,” said Manan.

Every year, millions of people like Manan face the reality of increasingly intense and frequent climate-related disasters, such as floods, storms, droughts and other extreme weather events, destroying livelihoods and causing loss of life. Since 2000, the escalating climate crisis has also meant an eightfold increase in funding requirements for United Nations humanitarian appeals linked to extreme weather.

Today, we can predict with increasing confidence the occurrence and humanitarian impact of some of these shocks, such as droughts, floods, or storms, but also some disease outbreaks.

Taking actions based on such predictions to support vulnerable communities facing disasters helps mitigate the effects of shocks through fast, dignified and cost-effective action that can also protect development gains.

OCHA supports scaling up of anticipatory action – acting ahead of predicted hazards to prevent or reduce acute humanitarian impacts before they fully unfold – primarily through the roll-out of coordinated frameworks which combine pre-agreed triggers, pre-agreed activities and pre-arranged financing.

Posted January 2026.

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