Pakistanis in Hong Kong are uniting to help survivors of devastating floods in their homeland, as relief efforts focus on ensuring disease does not spread among millions of people.
A Hong Kong shipping company owner who returned this week from the stricken region of southern Punjab told of the destruction he saw, and how it was vital that medical facilities be set up, and survival packs be distributed.
Shahzada Saleem, president of the Pakistan Association of Hong Kong, helped establish one such medical facility about 40km from his home city of Multan, manned by a team of doctors and paramedics.
'I went into the flooded areas around the city and saw first-hand some moving sights, but the spirits of the people are still high,' Saleem says. 'But we have to work fast to deliver aid, as the challenge now is fending off disease.'
The medical team is from a hospital in Multan built by the Saleem family as part of philanthropic efforts on behalf of poorer people in the city.
Between three to five doctors, and up to seven medical staff, have been assigned to the camp based in the outer suburbs.
