Islamabad Travel Forum

Innallilahi wanilahi raje hoon. May Allah give you guys in Islamabad enough strength to cope with the natural calamity. In this Holy month of Ramzan, pray for those who attained Shadah.

Yes, our sympathy and prayers for them...

Our prayers are with all the victims of this earth quake. Do you guys know of any reliable relief agency where we can donate funds ? I was thinking of Edhi group ?

Our prayers are with all the victims of this earth quake. Do you guys know of any reliable relief agency where we can donate funds ? I was thinking of Edhi group ?

My thoughts and prayers go to all the innocent victims of this terrible act of nature. As we will be in Pakistan in January, i will be back on this site to see if there is still any aid that we can do when we get there. Bringing necessary items if needed etc. All my thoughts to everybody.

may this be an iktibar for the living

as for donation, if there is anything to be learnt from the tsunami funds, better to send through relatives or people we know personally that go to the catastrophic site

Eidhi is the best choice. There are other charity organization that are also collecting e.g. The Citizen Foundation. In addition government in Karachi has setup various centers (one at PAF Museum) to collect donation.

Then I also agree with Sha_Stallion. If you know someone, give it to them directly. My driver is from the Northern Area, and his village has also been destryoed. Casualty in his village was low, but houses were destroyed. And they are need of household and food stuff. So we are giving him directly all our collection, and someone from his village is going back who will take the stuff along with him.

I m deeply sad to hear about this earthquake and pray that Allah help those in need in every ways to ease the sufferings.

Edhi is the best choice. In Balakot one of the worst hit areas people report that the first form of relief was Edhi Ambulances. I personally feel that either Edhi or if you have access to Army Relief Fund then even that is very reliable. Even here in Lahore one can see army trucks being loaded at the Fortess Stadium with relief goods and moving towards the affected areas. You should give aid to any agency that you know will do a quick and fair job.

I' ve been thinking about this tragedy and how best to contribute.. My ancestors are from the area and the faces I see on TV look so much like mine/my extended family.. It breaks my heart to see the childrens' faces (they are the face of tomorrrow..)

Can someone find out how much it will cost to rebuild a basic home in the remote areas? If not too much, maybe we in VT can pursue this more tangible avenue? Start sponsor a home campaign (especially with winter approaching)?

We can then even visit them when we travel...

What we have done in my part of the world is that we have collected money from our office colleagues and I believe we were able to generate a pretty decent amount and we have split the amount in different chunks and then we are sending this amount to different relief organizations like Edhi, Jamaat-e-islami (no political affiliations :) but we know that they are trust worthy as far as the distribution of money is concerned and they have the channells to reach the people) and we also came to know about some people who were buying stuff in Islamabad and filling up the trucks in their farm houses and sending it to upcountry for distribution to small villages.

Also we were thinking that since this is such a difficult terrain and its difficult to reach those places, why not use the distribution method being used by P&G, Lever Brothers etc. as they deliver their products to those remote areas everyday so if you guys sitting in Pakistan can ask for their help in the distribution then it will help a great deal, as I understand so many people are helping but they dont know how to reach the affected places.

Nestle' has given it's water to the army relief camp and they are moving it to the affected areas. I am not sure about P&G and Lever Brothers but would like to check them out.

But asimk seriously, Jamaat-e-Islami? I myself am religeous minded but Jamaat-e-Islaami? Sorry to say but me-do-not-trust-those-guys. Anyway, it's ones personal choice! :)

Can someone find out how much it will cost to rebuild a basic home or a school in the remote areas? If not too much, maybe we in VT can pursue this more tangible avenue? Start sponsorship of homes/school rebuilding campaign (especially with winter approaching)? We can then even visit them when we travel... Or will something like the World Bank or ADB or the Pakistani government be undertaking this task?

BTW does anyone have the website of Aga Khan's focus group? According to the BBC, I think, it's doing good relief work. I heard that the army was simply standing around/doing nothing in some areas - even saw them just standing by and watching the locals try to dig in for rescue efforts! Whadda *&%# are they doing?

MY prayers to those who are affected by this tragedy. And let's hope that situations could only improve with India and Pakistan getting together and put political differences aside to be most effective in providing the best humanitarian efforts in the area.

The aga khan website is http://www.akdn.org/index.html
From personal experience, they are indeed doing quite a good job in terms of providing efficient sanitation and education in the Northern areas of Pakistan, but not sure if they do operate in the sensitive Pakistani Kashmiri area.

Thanks Joks! NWFP is where my folks originated from - so that'll be sufficient for me.. Can't help each and everyone, anyway!

BTW still have had no response to: -

Can someone find out how much it will cost to rebuild a basic home or a school in the remote areas? If not too much, maybe we in VT can pursue this more tangible avenue? Start sponsorship of homes/school rebuilding campaign (especially with winter approaching)? We can then even visit them when we travel... Or will something like the World Bank or ADB or the Pakistani government be undertaking this task? Does anyone know? Would appreciate some information on these..

Pak2Ksa, Yes I mean AlKhidmat and I have seen them work (first hand experience is something which you can trust right ? :) ) once they promise something then they do keep track of everything and I am not saying they are angels or anything, its just that they are more trust worthy then anyone else.

Sherezad, I can understand from your name as well that you from the northern part of Pakistan :) anyway as for your request I have been through Unicef website and other places and I dont think anyone has mentioned the cost of sponsoring home/school. I was thinking that why not we should ask Edhi Foundation to build an orphanage in that area. I will try to get this info. though if I find something then I will forward it to you.

Thanks, Asim! Look forward to more infor on the rebuiling - homes/schools/orphanages/anything - not that I am rich! Just want to make my contribution to something I can visit in the future!

Anyway, with the devastation I see on the news, it looks like EVERYTHING will need rebuiding but nobody is talking about it! I wonder how winter proof those tents are..

Those tents are not at all winter proof. Those are the regular kinda tents. And so you can imagine the seriousness of the situation with winter just round the corner. And right at this moment Pakistan has a serious shortage of even these tents and the government has requested China to provide us with tents. All the tents that were in the country have already been put to use.

Asimk :) I am sure the jamaat-e-Islaami also does "some" good work :) though I must admit that I have serious ideological disagreement with them so I might be a bit biased in my statement about them :)

If you people want to donate then here is some information about one of the relief agencies which is very active in that part of the world:

1. PAKISTAN

Abdul Sattar Edhi Foundation IFIC, I I
CHANDREGAR ROAD US Dollar A/C 319

Abdul Sattar Edhi Foundation A/C 011446-6
UBL Bombay Bazar Branch

2. UK
EDHI INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION, U. K.
316 Edgware Road
London W2 1DY, U. K.
Phone: 020-7723-2050
Fax: 020-7224-9774

Bank Information:
A/C No. 1466755
Sort Code: 30-99-86
Lloyds Bank Plc
357 Regent's Park Road
London N3 1DN
U. K.

3. U.S.A
Bilquis Edhi Relief Foundation
45-11, National Street
Corona, N. Y. 11368
Newyork, U. S. A
Phone: 718-639-0633, 718-505-4925
Fax: 715-505-8001

Bank Information:
Swift code: HANYUS33XXX
A/C No. 32001014
Habib American Bank
74-05/07, 37th Avenue Jackson Heights, Queens
Newyork 11372
U. S. A
Phone: 718-397-0890
Fax: 718-397-0871

medicine san frontiers , they will be in Pakistan giving medical aid with unpaid doctors giving vaccinations and medical care i subscribe and give monies monthly they are a really good charity and respond to disasters all over the world

TQ for the infor Asim! I am away visiting my mother, who is ill, and will do something about it when I get back to KL. Bsest regards

Hi Tony. Maybe you'd like to consider the reply I got from my niece in Karachi: Pakistan needs only tents (waterproof) because heavy rainfall is started in Kashmir, warm clothes, blankets and helicopters. Foodstuff and medical teams are not required because 67 countries send these things and Pakistani doctors; Para medical staff and uncountable volunteers are here to serve earthquake victims.

I'd still go for providing shelter, temporary or permanent..

My interest in rebuilding efforts: A little persistence goes a long way! So that's where my contribution will go!

Reply to my email enquiry to Edhi Foundation's website: -

From: "Mahmood Hassan" <mahmood@islamicaid.org.uk>

We have started our next step of rehabilitation by setting up teams who have started retrieving whatever they can from the destroyed building and building small houses. Our volunteer have already completed 10 houses. If done manually, it is a slow process. To speed up things up, we urgently require mobile workshops. Each mobiles workshop is fitted with electric generator, electric saw and other power run machinery fitted on a van. The total cost for each mobile workshop is $9,000 and each such house is costing in terms of additional things like labour, material etc about $65.

Mahmood Hassan
Chairman - Islamic Aid
47 Theydon Street, London E17 8EN
Telephone 0845 130 8990; Mobile 0790 552 4463
www.islamicaid.org.uk

Mahmood Hassan <mahmood@islamicaid.org.uk> wrote:
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 07:41:36 +0100

I think to be on safe side we can put rebuilding cost at $100, as $65 was they roughly spent per house on the first 10 houses. Work was done al by volunteers and there were no additional expenses like travelling, running the mobile workshop and some more damaged building material may require more new material. $9,000 for mobile workshop is fine.

Very interesting information, We in saudia spoke to some other guys and they were saying that it will take approx. 45K Pakistan Rupees to build a decent home for homeless people. This is somewhere around 750USD, so we in our part of the world were planning to take responsibilities of as many houses as possible. I dont have the exact details as to who is behind all this I mean the source of this information.

Yesterday I was also watching Saudis donate and in one day of telethon they had collected somewhere around 35 million USD !!!

It's about time the Saudis spend their petrodollars for a good cause? Maybe they can help EDHI purchase the mobile units etc?

Re: Reply to my email enquiry to Edhi Foundation's website: -

From: "Mahmood Hassan" <mahmood@islamicaid.org.uk>

Oops! I had mistakenly posted my enquiry on islamicaid's link, after searching for EDHI's website! Can anyone verify the credibiity/track record of islamicaid.org.uk? Before I part with my money! Or know if EDHI has a specific rebuilding fund, I wish to contribute to?

Click on the following links for support purposes:

www.clearvision.com.pk/help

(I know these guys directly so I can guarantee about their authenticity and also the different kind of packages to support the families are very nice)

Also there is another one which I just say today

www.hidaya.org
(They are sending tents to pakistan for 100 usd each).

HTH

ANYONE WANT TO GIVE ANYTHING TO THE EARTH QUAKE VICTIMS PERSONALLY


THIS CHRISTMAS
I WILL BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO DO SO AND GIVE YOU THE PHOTO'S OF THE EVENT


MY FRIND WHO IS ALSO HERE FROM THE STATES WENT TO THE NORHT AREAS AND HE MADE ME REALLY PROUD HERE IS HIS LINK http://triptopakistan.blogspot.com
Earthquake Zone, Part II: Reflections and Observations


ALSO friends i have hosted from canada saw in ISB what had happened
http://www.twohammers.blogspot.com


here is that link

i gave these people places to stay for free/ since they also wanted to come her and help,,

its the most i can do for someone traveling miles away to help/ plus i am here on travel

but i want to do more!!!!!!! to help alot of people are being left out casue money is going to somewhere which is going to be use in a system to set up a project for these people....

Well it looks like my question was finally answered: President Musharaf managed to raise more money than needed for the rebuilding effort through the World Bank, ADB etc...

Hope the rebuilding starts before the snow does! I decided not to make a contribution to IslamicAid until I get some endorsement of it from others..

thru my tour of lahore ,, i have learned from one community,,
that a local road what built,,

after 50 years of requesting....

from many people that live in the area,



lets just hope those times have ended......and progress is made fast because we are losing the Paksiani race... many are being held for no reason around the world by INS... and war camps,, or killed by people after the 9/11 backlash...some have been sent to other country many are displaced...

lets just hope we can help the displaced within our reach....at least