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Relief packages, funded by UKaid from the Department for International Development (DFID) and delivered by ActionAid, are helping families in northern Pakistan survive the impact of the floods.

鈥淲e were hungry and feared starvation when ActionAid reached us. They provided us with food (which was funded by UK aid from DFID). Food is聽the most invaluable thing in the early days of flooding. It gave us new life. Without food one does not have strength. When the stomach is full, one can think about other things.鈥�

Fifty-year-old Mahash Begum lives in Chel village, Bishigram, Upper Swat. She has 3 sons and her husband Shah Mazob Khan is a farm labourer. Although her family is poor, they鈥檇 managed to save enough money to build a house.

鈥淚 cannot forget how difficult it was for us to build our house,鈥� she says.

鈥淚t took so much money, so much effort and many years. It was a small home consisting of two rooms but it was our heaven. Despite being poor, we were happy to own our house.鈥�

But, like millions of other people in Pakistan, Mahash鈥檚 home was washed away in the floods. Her rented farmland was also badly damaged.

鈥淎ll of a sudden, water wiped out my vegetables. The whole land seemed barren, as if nothing ever grew there,鈥� she recalls.

鈥淚 worked hard on that land, ploughed it and planted seeds. All gone, all finished.聽We are unable to pay its rent because the crop is destroyed. We do not have cash to re-cultivate it.鈥�

UK aid relief packages

After the floods arrived, Mahash and her family went to relatives for shelter and food. But they were shocked to find out that their extended family were running out of food stock too. Mahash and her husband really started to worry.

Thankfully ActionAid visited the family聽and gave them a聽relief package. Funded by聽UKaid from DFID, the packages contain food, a large bag of wheat, cooking oil and pulses.

鈥淚t was enough for my family,鈥� says Mahash.

鈥淣ow we have put a tent here outside my relatives鈥� house and are living through each day. God willing, things will get better. I am very hopeful.鈥�

Key facts and stats

Chel village lies in the Bishigram Valley of upper Swat and was badly affected by the floods. Most houses in the area were destroyed and bridges and roads leading to聽the valley were washed away.

UK aid, from the Department for International Development, funded the relief packages via the Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies. The packages contain food, hygiene kits and household and kitchen items.

Twenty聽million people have been affected by the floods.

1.9 million houses have been destroyed or damaged.

DFID has pledged 拢134 million of UKaid to help the people of Pakistan. You can find out more about how this money is being allocated by visting our .