Brooke staff provide emergency feed to equine in Pakistan. Credit: Ahmad Umer Chaudhry.
More Than 60k People And Animals Helped By Working Animal Charity Following Last Year's Flooding Disaster In Pakistan
10 months ago 
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Pakistan was hit by one of the worst floods in its history a year ago, leading to a national emergency affecting millions of people. Working animal charity Brooke played a pivotal role in supporting communities and their working equines on the road to recovery, as well as providing training to enable communities to cope better in the event of future disasters.
Brooke, a global animal welfare organisation protecting the lives of working horses, donkeys and mules, provided crucial relief to over 36,000 animals and 26,000 people during the response, rehabilitation and recovery phases of last year’s flood crisis in Pakistan.
Brooke distributed over 130 first aid kits and built 88 shelters for displaced equine-owning communities in Pakistan, who had been forced to live on roadsides or search for new homes after four million acres of agricultural land was damaged from flooding. Brooke also set up mobile clinics across Pakistan for injured or sick animals, performing 1200 emergency treatments thanks to Brooke-trained veterinarians. As well as this, the horse and donkey charity constructed 60 water pumps and 200 water troughs to ensure access to safe drinking water.
Not only responding to critical needs during disaster, Brooke hosted hundreds of Community Awareness Sessions, which offer training on preparedness and resilience in the event of a future disaster. Sessions focused on the importance of equids to the livelihoods of their owners, and best practices for animal welfare and health. This has linked 86 Animal Health Practitioners with Pakistan communities to provide essential support alongside local services.
“Our approach to the flood relief operation in Pakistan comprised of three rules: “Right People, Right Time, Right Place”. We helped the animals and community with full devotion during the floods, and even after the floods we went into the rehabilitation phase to build back what had been lost. We will continue to work on resilience in these communities, so that they are fully prepared against future risk.”
Farooq Malik, CEO at Brooke Pakistan.
An estimated 33 million people were impacted during Pakistan’s 2022 monsoon season, which saw one-third of Pakistan completely submerged. As of October 2022, 21 million people were still in need of humanitarian assistance.
Flash floods and landslides swept away homes, displacing eight million people and bringing water-borne diseases, food insecurity, and loss of livelihoods. According to UNICEF, more than 10 million people in flood-affected areas still lack access to safe drinking water. Pakistan’s animal population has been hit just as dramatically, with more than one million livestock animals perishing in the floods to date, whose owners rely on them heavily for livelihood.
Extreme weather events like this can be linked to climate change, and with global temperatures only increasing, this poses a huge threat to One Health: the interconnected health of animals, people and the environment.
Brooke, which works across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, is currently formalising a new Disaster Risk Management Framework, to ensure a strong response to future disasters around the world. Working with communities, governments and other international organisations, Brooke is dedicated to providing animals and humans around the world with the most effective disaster relief as possible, as they face an often catastrophic aftermath.
To learn more about how Brooke Pakistan has helped flood-affected communities and their animals, watch this short documentary.
Notes to Editor:
Brooke Action for Working Horses and Donkeys is a U.K. based, global animal health and welfare charity that gives working horses, donkeys and mules a life worth living.
Over 100 million of these animals pull carts, carry goods and work the land, earning an income that around 600 million people rely on to put food on their tables, earn a living and send their children to school. Sadly, many of them are suffering, so Brooke works with owners, communities, service providers, governments and international organisations to make long lasting welfare improvements.
Brooke was founded in 1934 when Dorothy Brooke, a British woman, sought out war horses that had been left in Cairo after the First World War. With support from an appeal letter in the Morning Post newspaper, she set up the Old War Horse Memorial, which became Brooke, and expanded across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Website: www.thebrooke.org
Facebook: thebrookecharity
Twitter: @thebrooke
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