UAE Pakistanis rally to send flood relief

At least two containers of relief goods are expected to leave for the flood-hit north-west region of Pakistan today after expatriates in the UAE stepped in to help.

Marooned flood victims reach for food supplies thrown down from an Army helicopter in the Muzaffargarh district of Pakistan's Punjab province August 7, 2010. Pakistanis desperate to get out of flooded villages threw themselves at helicopters on Saturday as more heavy rain was expected to intensify both suffering and anger with the government. The disaster killed more than 1,600 people and disrupted the lives of 12 million.  REUTERS/Adrees Latif  (PAKISTAN - Tags: DISASTER ENVIRONMENT IMAGES OF THE DAY)
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DUBAI // At least two containers of relief goods are expected to leave for the flood-hit north-west region of Pakistan today after expatriates in the UAE stepped in to help. Cartons containing clothes, blankets, tents, food and medicine have been collected at the headquarters of the Pakistan Association Dubai. The collection followed its appeal for help last week.

The association has collected more than Dh200,000 in cash, which has already reached the aid relief efforts, according to Inayat ur Rehman, its acting general secretary. "Our team has gone to Pakistan and handed over the amount," he said. "We are now preparing to transport all the relief material collected to the camps." However, Mr Rehman said the response from the community was not as he had seen before. "We did not see the kind of response that we saw during the earthquake in 2005. People came together to help at that time." He called for more participation from the community to help their home country.

Over the weekend, dozens of Pakistanis visited the relief collection centre to donate money, while others gave relief material. "We received lot of clothes, blankets, bottles of juices, canned food items and other material," said Essamuddin Orakzai, the vice-president of the Pak Khyber Wing of the Pakistan Association in Dubai. "We have collected it and packed it into boxes." He said volunteers had collected relief material from several Pakistani businessmen based in the UAE. "So far, we have enough material to fill up two to three containers."

The association is now in talks with local airlines to transport the relief material to the north west region today. "An airline has agreed to take 500kg to 1,000kg of relief material in one trip." Meanwhile, the UAE's Red Crescent Authority (RCA) said it was co-ordinating with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on the relief operations. The RCA said it had provided aid to about 25,000 families through the Pakistani Red Crescent.

Also, the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation said it had begun distributing humanitarian aid in the flood-ravaged areas of Pakistan in response to directives by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi. The Foundation is giving out 6,000 tents, 130,000 bags of wheat flour, 3,000 bags of lentil, 15,000 food packages as well as medicines and medical emergency kits. The Foundation said it was prioritising the worst affected provinces of Swat, Peshawar, Nowshera and Rajanpur with distribution of food aid in other areas to begin in the coming few days.

Heavy rains worsened conditions in the flood hit regions of Pakistan yesterday, with forecasters predicting more downpours in the coming days. The continuing rains are raising fears that swollen rivers will bring further destruction. Officials are in the process of evacuating nearly one million people from Sindh province. The United Nations said four million people had been affected by the floods, with around 1,500 declared dead. It has said the disaster is "on a par" with the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, which killed about 73,000 people.

In a televised address to the nation, the prime minister, Raza Yousuf Gilani, said it was the worst flooding in Pakistan's 63-year history. Some 30,000 Pakistani soldiers are rebuilding bridges, delivering food and setting up relief camps in the north west region, which is the main battleground between government and Taliban forces. Pakistani officials estimate that as many as 13 million people have been affected by the rising waters.

Pakistani welfare groups and government representatives have called on the large expatriate community in the UAE - there are more than 700,000 Pakistanis here - to come forward and help in aid efforts. Media reports from Pakistan claim that cricket stars and other celebrities are also making efforts to collect funds from expatriate Pakistanis in the UAE. @Email:pmenon@thenational.ae