SEATTLE — A Seattle-area organization is helping those affected by catastrophic flooding in Pakistan.
Floodwaters resulting from an intense monsoon and glacial melt has impacted 33 million people in Pakistan, a country of 220 million. At least 1,100 people died from the floods. Nearly one-third of the country is under water.
"The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids," United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said.
In Seattle, the head of a Pakistani community group is mobilizing to provide aid for those affected by the floods.
"It took us about two weeks to plan for a telethon," said Kamran Salahuddin, the founder of the Pakistan Association of Greater Seattle. The goal of the nationwide telethon, held in New York on Saturday, was to raise relief funds for Pakistan.
The telethon raised $1.75 million, according to Salahuddin.
"Everybody is moved. People have opened up their hearts to help," Salahuddin said.
Salahuddin, who has been operating his printing and copy business in Seattle's Lower Queen Anne for nearly 30 years, has been thinking about those impacted by the severe floods, which he and climate scientists say are related to climate change.
"We here in the northwest, or even in the west in general, enjoy our lives and don't even think about what all these emissions and all these pollution that we are creating, caused this kind of devastation for people who have nothing to do with it," Salahuddin said.
His organization is currently accepting donations on this page.
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