Salt Lake City, USA - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is providing some immediate aid to flood-ravaged Pakistan and is making plans to give additional aid in the coming weeks.
However, the LDS Church has no official presence in Pakistan — no church members, missionaries or meetinghouses are directly impacted by the flooding.
The LDS Church has partnered with International Relief and Development, International Medical Corps and Saba Aslam Welfare and Trust to locally purchase and distribute immediate relief supplies.
Additional supplies from the Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake City will be shipped in the coming weeks, in partnership with Islamic Relief USA.
Assessments are continuing to determine further support in the coming weeks.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Pakistan," said Bishop H. David Burton, presiding bishop of the LDS Church, who oversees humanitarian efforts. "The generous donations of church members and others is allowing the church to provide aid that will relieve the suffering of many people."
Heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan triggered the worst flooding in 80 years, beginning in late July. More than a third of the country has been impacted, and more than 1,500 people have died. Seventeen million others have been directly affected.
More than 1.2 million homes have been destroyed, leaving an estimated 8 million people homeless.
The church provides relief and development projects for humanitarian purposes in countries all over the world. Projects operate without regard to the nationality or religion of the recipients. Donations, principally from church members but also from others around the world, are used to make relief projects possible.
One hundred percent of the donations given to the church's humanitarian services are used for relief efforts. The LDS Church absorbs its own overhead costs.