During the past few weeks, a group of colleagues from the World Economic Forum visited Pakistan, including areas which have been devastated by floods and landslides. The experience brought home to us the true gravity of the situation.

Pakistan is already affected by serious challenges including energy shortages, poor water supply, and widespread poverty in addition to constant terror threats and a challenging political situation. Torrential rains have now caused the worst floods in 80 years which many of you may have read about or seen in the news over the past month.

The data is staggering. Some 20 million people are affected by the floods and by some estimates one fourth of the land is under water. Many lives have been lost already, many remain in acute danger of disease and malnutrition and it will take months, if not years, to rebuild the infrastructure that has been destroyed.

The Forum has appealed to its staff to collect funds that will be donated to a trusted and reputable local organization such as the Edhi Foundation to ensure that our support reaches people most in need. Once this emergency relief phase is over, we also hope to be involved in longer-term rehabilitation efforts with our members and partners and by supporting local social entrepreneurs such as the Kashf Foundation.