Pakistani association calls for more relief aid

Dubai: You can provide a shelter to a family of four to eight people by just donating Dh5,000 as it is the cost of building a two-room house in the flood-affected area in Pakistan.

"We still have a daunting task of rehabilitating hundreds of thousand of flood victims who are homeless and have no means of living," said Naimatullah Khan, president of Al Khidmat Foundation, one of the largest welfare and social organisations in Pakistan.

He said that the foundation has already started building houses, mosques, schools and basic health units, in addition to providing micro financing to help people start their business and start cultivating their agriculture lands.

The estimated amount needed to carry out these projects in 35 flood-affected districts across Pakistan is about Rs2.3 billion (Dh184 million). "Every penny counts," said Khan while speaking at a fund raising function held at Pakistan Association in Dubai (PAD) on Thursday.

Hundreds of community members turned up to participate in the noble cause. Khan said that they need support not only from the Pakistani community but also from all the communities living in the UAE to cope with what is deemed to be the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world.

Volunteers

Volunteers, who helped with PAD's relief work in the last three months, were also honoured by the organisation.

Pakistani Consul General in Dubai Tarek Iqbal Somoro urged the community to continue their good work. "We are determined to re construct houses and rehabilitate millions of people but we need your support to provide the flood victims with food and shelter," he said.

Somoro, who has recently joined as Consul General, asked the community to freely interact with him and identify their problems and also give suggestions to improve the community services provided at the consulate. "You are welcome to meet me as I have adopted an open door policy," he said.

Rehabilitation

Meanwhile, Riaz Farooq, president of PAD, said that PAD has entered into an agreement with Al Khidmat Foundation to carry out the rehabilitation work

"We have entered the second phase of our relief project after massive operation of providing emergency relief such as food, medicines, clothes, and temporary housing in tents," he added.

Farooq said the response to the relief efforts from UAE residents has been overwhelming. He said PAD has so far sent 53 containers and 41 air cargo consignments to Pakistan totalling around Dh17 million. PAD also remitted Dh2.1 million in cash to the victims. He said PAD used the services of Al Khidmat Foundation because it has the largest network of volunteer workers all over the country.

Giving details of PAD's relief efforts, Rizwan Fancy, welfare secretary, who spent two months in the flood-affected areas to distribute relief goods, said that PAD also set up a tent city of 200 tents housing more than 2,500 people and provided them free food every day apart from health care.

According to the Pakistan government the recent floods have killed more than 1,700 people and left more than 20 million homeless. More than 650,000 houses have been destroyed, hundreds of thousands of animals have been killed and crops over thousands of hectares have been wiped out.

Contribution: Sponsor projects

• Build a house : Dh5,000 to Dh12,000
• School repairs: Dh8,000
• Child education one year: Dh4,000
• Mosque repair: Dh 8,000
• Build a new mosque: Dh60,000
• Micro financing to support small businesses: Dh2,500
• Maternity home: Dh1.1 million
• Basic Health Unit: Dh150,000

How have you contributed to helping the people affected by the Pakistan floods? Is enough being done to help them?