KARACHI: One of Pakistan’s most famous mobile games, Free Fire, has a gaming community that has promised to donate 25000 Kg of rice as humanitarian aid to help those affected by the unprecedented floods in Pakistan. Preliminary estimates indicate that the floods have destroyed 70% of Pakistan’s rice harvest in addition to 65% of the country’s major food crops. In the worst-hit communities, the rice is anticipated to bring immediate aid to almost 200,000 people.
An online event inside of the game, where each Free Fire player may donate the virtual tokens they earned by merely playing the game, served as an appeal for help to the entire community. 100g of rice was represented by each token that was gathered. An enormous amount of people responded to this event, which led to the emergence of a social media movement. Under the hashtag #KheloApnoKayLiay, more than 250,000 tokens—equivalent to 25,000 kg of rice—were generated in just three days.
The renowned JDC Foundation received this 25,000 kg of rice as a donation, and it was subsequently delivered to flood victims in the worst-affected districts. Rauf Khalid, also known as Rufe Bhai, a well-known content creator from Free Fire’s World, was present to donate the rice to JDC Foundation. He said, “I am really honoured and happy of how the gaming community has come together to help our nation in such hard times. It was incredible to watch Pakistani citizens from many communities work together to make such an effect. A huge shout out to Free Fire’s Community for making all of this possible.
It is mention here around July 22, Pakistan’s northwest mountainous region had record monsoon rains, which led to flash floods in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Balochistan. Unprecedented rainfall overpowered flood barriers, destroying bridges and roads, and inundating vast tracts of land. By August 1, at least 1,000,000 people had been evicted from their houses and at least 1,000 people had died as a result of flooding. In August, further rain fall in the northwest as floodwaters rushed into the provinces of Balochistan and Sindh. Rescue workers and humanitarian relief workers struggled to reach victims who were stranded by rising water and substantial damage to roads and bridges in mid-August, when one-fifth of Pakistan had been impacted.
