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| Welcome
to Petarian - Abdalian Relief Efforts
Progress
Report of Oct 23-29, 2005
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Due
to the heavy load of work both for relief
activities as well as my work/home front,
I was unable to post the daily reports.
I just got back from Taraveeh prayers at
Faisal Mosque, Islamabad, where they finished
the Qur'an tonight. It is the 25th night
of Ramazan here. The prayers ended with
dua. It was a good reminder of the disaster
that has overtaken us over these past 3
weeks.
Let me now turn towards the main text of
my report and update you all on what has
transpired at our Rerah camp site over these
past 5 days.
• The Medical camp has done well masha Allah.
Our young volunteer doctors have been working
hard. The number of patients per day has
dropped to around 150. Most of the patients
now are suffering from diseases generated
due to exposure to the cold weather. There
has been a spread of tetanus reported particularly
in the cities. There have been several deaths
reported daily from the major hospitals
in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, etc. However,
so far we have not had a tetanus case developed
at our camp.
• Arif Masud has been a driving force for
our medical teams. He has been supervising
over their efforts and looking after the
administration of the medicines. With his
tight grip, there are few problems at this
end so far.
• The team of doctors that has been at the
camp for the past 6 days will be returning
to Karachi via Islamabad tomorrow insha
Allah. A new team of 2 doctors - Dr. Kamran
and Dr. Amjad - is flying in from Karachi
tomorrow morning and will proceed immediately
to the camp at Rerah insha Allah.
• Over these past few days, we have achieved
our target of providing relief to Samni
village in totality. Our teams surveyed
all the homes, and through the new process
of issuance of "chits", we ensured
that all the needy in this village got the
relief that was desired. Around 350 tents
in total have been issued to Samni village.
In addition, all of these homes received
blankets / comforters ("razai's").
We also provided them with food rations.
This is a great achievement of our teams
that they completed this first task successfully.
I must thank the teams from Kohat along
with Aamir Mumtaz and Moed for completing
this task.
• After completion of the work at Samni
village, our volunteers have now been surveying
the villages on the northern hills. The
devastation and number of casualties on
this side has been much larger. In particular,
we have now moved to Barikot, Ramikot, Mohajir
Colony, Sehri and smaller villages in their
vicinity. A complete database of these villages
is being developed while relief is being
provided to the affected homes. We have
already either disbursed or are in the process
of disbursing nearly 900 tents to this part
of the area (in addition to the 350 tents
distributed at Samni).
• So far, the total number of tents arranged
and disbursed in this area is as follows:
o Initial purchase - 200 tents
o Donation from Kohat - 300 tents/tarpaulins
o Second purchase - 500 tents
o Donation by Discover Islam Centre, Bahrain
- 200 tents
o Donation by another private donor - 80
tens
o TOTAL no. of tents - 1,280 tents
• In addition, we are providing blankets
or comforters to all these people. We received
a donation of nearly 600 sets of comforters
(razai's) plus bedding from Discover Islam
Centre. In addition to these 600 sets, we
have distributed over 1,000 sets that we
had arranged through other sources.
• Our supplies of food rations also continues.
We have had to modify the type of food we
are sending based on inputs from the site.
For example, we learnt the hard way that
these people do not consume powdered or
UHT milk. Nor do they want mineral water.
They dont consume cheese and other types
of condiments. We are back to simple and
straightforward wheat flour, rice, sugar,
tea, and lentils (daal). This is what they
consume and this is what we are now concentrating
on.
• The only clothing that is worth supplying
is warm clothing like sweaters etc. All
other clothing supplies are a waste.
• Our 4 trucks have been plying between
Islamabad, Lahore, Faisalabad and the Rerah
Camp site on a daily basis. For example,
two truck loads left today, and another
two truck loads will be leaving tomorrow
morning. Most of what we are now sending
is tents and comforters/blankets.
• Let me now turn towards the data collected.
I shall list the data of Samni village,
which will give you a fair idea of the extent
of damage to property.
o Of the 475 total houses in this village,
our teams surveyed 428 homes
o Of these, 228 are totally destroyed, i.e.
53%
o 182 homes are partially damaged and would
need extensive repair to make them livable,
i.e. 43%
o 18 homes are intact with no visible damage,
i.e. 4%
• The data of other villages is still under
compilation. The surveys are being conducted
while the relief supplies are being distributed.
• In addition to our teams that are based
at the camp, we have had several people
from amongst our well-wishers and organizers
who have visited the site over the past
week. These include Shahid Mahmud, Shafqat
Sami, Capt. Nayyar (Abdalian), Dr. Faisal
(Abdalian), a couple of major donors, etc.
• To date, we have already received over
Rs. 8 million in cash plus around Rs. 3
million worth of relief goods. In addition,
we have over Rs. 6 million commitments which
we hope to receive soon. Thus, we have a
total of over Rs. 17 million received /
committed in cash or kind.
• Our total expenditures to date are Rs.
3 million worth of goods which have already
been distributed plus over Rs. 4 million
that we spent on purchases of tents, food
rations, medicines and other relief items.
• We shall be providing a complete independent
audited report of all receipts and expenses
on this effort.
In the meantime, we have been continually
assessing our work and what should be our
future course of action. I shall be writing
a separate message on this issue based on
our discussions by tomorrow morning insha
Allah.
With Best Wishes,
Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui
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