Flood Relief Work Updates

Karachi: Serving Phase 3 of Umer Goth

noreply@blogger.com (Shahpar) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:36:00 +0000

23rd September, 2010

The ration that that we distributed on 3rd of September to the IDPs resident at Umer Goth of Karachi was consumed and the local persons contacted us again for a re-serving. After doing a proper verification we executed the Round 3 of serving at Umer Goth and distributed the following items:

§ Flour 10 KG – 45 bags

§ Cooking Oil 1 Litre – 45 bags

§ Daal Chanaa 2 KG – 45 bags

§ Rice 2.5 KG – 50 bags

§ Salt 1 Packet – 26 Packets

§ Red Chilli Powder – 19 Packets

Sehwan: Serving Details at Lal Bagh camp – Phase - 2

noreply@blogger.com (Shahpar) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:23:00 +0000

20th September, 2010

We are in a continuous touch with our contact persons at Sehwan, their ration supplies have improved and the shortage of Rice and Pulses have been covered. As per our discussion over the last weekend, they are facing a shortage of Cooking oil, salt and red chilli powder as well as there is a desperate need of packing shoppers (as they received Flour, Rice and pulses in 50-100 KG bags) and they want to pack them in separate packages so to deliver the package to the families on an individual basis.

So on 20th of September, we dispatched our second shipment to Lal bagh camp of Sehwan that consisted of following stuff for around 3K families:

§ Cooking Oil 1 Litre – 3000 Bags

§ Salt 1 Packet – 3000 Bags

§ Red Chilli Powder 100gm – 3000

§ Cooking Oil 1 Litre – 3000 Bags

§ Salt 1 Packet – 3000 Bags

§ Red Chilli Powder 100gm – 3000

§ Packing Shoppers: (0.5, 2, 5 and 10 KG) – 5000+ shopping bags

Sehwan: Serving Details at Lal Bagh camp

noreply@blogger.com (Shahpar) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:56:00 +0000

15th September, 2010

As referred in the earlier post, when the Eid holidays were over we initiated the purchasing activity for the identified requirements. Before finalizing the purchase we re-contacted to our sources on the ground and found out that as the chances of Manchhar lake overflow are rapidly increasing so surrounding areas have been evacuated on an emergency basis, and the camp is now hosting thrice more as the ones we observed during our assessment visit. With this new intel and confirmation we updated our distribution plan and immediately dispatched a truck carrying the following items to the Lal Bagh camp for 1000 families:

§ Daal Chanaa 2 KG – 1000 Bags

§ Cooking Oil KG – 1000 Bags

§ Rice 2.5 KG – 1000 Bags

§ Salt 1 Packet – 1000 Bags

§ Red Chilli Powder 100gm – 1000 Bags

The truck was dispatched on the night of 15th and it reached the destination on 16th of September

Karachi: 2nd serving at Dil Muhammad Goth (Gadap Town)

noreply@blogger.com (Navaid) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 06:20:00 +0000

16th September, 2010

To serve Dil Muhammad Goth (Gadap Town) second time, we purchased ration supplies from a nearby whole seller in Malir. The cost for the ration supplies was again paid by the same IT guy who referred us to this place as he wanted to serve here himself.

Our volunteer reached the shop at around Maghrib. He purchased the items, lodged them on the suzuki and handed over to the person incharge of the camp who is taking care of the people over there with his family members. We handed over the following ration package there:

Flour: 200 Kg
Rice: 100 Kg
Daal Chana: 10 Kg
Daal Masoor: 15 Kg
Cooking Oil: 25 Kg
Sugar: 25 Kg
Salt: 5 Packes
Tea: 2.5 Kg
Powdered Milk: 5 Kg
Red Chilly Powder: 1 Kg

We are very thankful to our volunteer who helped us delivering the ration supplied to the required place in appropriate manner.

Karachi: Serving Details for 250 Families(~1300 Persons) at Manghopir

noreply@blogger.com (Shahpar) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 19:01:00 +0000

14th September, 2010

We placed our order on 13th of September, at a ration wholesaler shop situated around UP more area but the guy asked us to pick it up by 14th morning so that he can provide us the ration in 250 packages. As we were in a definite need of the separate ration packages so we agreed and the same guy arranged transportation for us as well to transport the packages to Manghopir area.

We reached the place at around 4:PM, we spotted out a distribution spot where the representatives of these 250 families were present, the distribution took around 3 hours, we handed over the following ration package to each of 250 families:

§ Flour 10 KG – 250 Bags

§ Daal Chanaa 1 KG – 250 Bags

§ Ghee 1KG – 250 Bags

§ Rice 2.5 KG – 250 Bags

We are really thankful to our volunteers who assisted for the completion of this case, they remain on their toes from the assessment phase till the distribution phase. They asked us that they have also collected cash to help out the flood effected persons and they wanted to have a financial contribution for this case along with their physical contribution. We respected there gesture so for this case around 21% of the total amount spent was the one that was their collection.

Karachi: Verification at Manghopir

noreply@blogger.com (Shahpar) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 17:51:00 +0000

12th September, 2010 (Eid 2nd Day)

After receiving a confirmation that a brief list has been prepared for the IDPs at Manghopir, on the 2nd day of Eid we visited the place. At the place the registration was continued from Fajr timings and a list of around 263 families was present with the following information:

Person name
Fathers’Name
Pre-flood resident area
NIC number
Number of family members

After an scrutiny phase of the list and confirmation about the pre-flood resident area of the IDPs there, we decided to serve ration for ~250 families there. Our next step is to search for a ration vendor in a nearby location to Manghopir who can give us cheaper rates and quicker delivery.

Karachi: Need assessment at Manghopir

noreply@blogger.com (Shahpar) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 17:42:00 +0000

11th September, 2010 (Eid 1st day)

Eid Mubarak

As referred in the earlier relevant post, a team of our volunteers visited the Manghopir area for the need assessment of the IDPs that were reported to be present there. On Eid evening they visited the place and were able to meet the local contact of ours to have a discussion about the number of persons present there, their previous area from where they got displaced and the issues that they were facing.

They found out that the IDPs that are present there mostly belongs from Meharr and Khairpur Nathan Shah areas of Sind. They were referred to be scattered at various places in the Manghopir area including multiple surrounding Gothhs. Our local contact was asked to make a proper list of the people there in a family wise manner so that we may have a verification phase.

Now we would be waiting for the confirmation of the list availability so to start the verification phase there as per our defined protocol

In Snaps – Distribution @ Khokhrapar; Karachi

noreply@blogger.com (Shahpar) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:30:00 +0000

3rd September 2010

In Snaps - Dil Muhammad Goth, Gadaap Town; Karachi

noreply@blogger.com (Shahpar) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:26:00 +0000

2nd September 2010

Sehwan: Need Assessment for the IDPs from Sehwan, Dadu, Meharr and surrounding areas

noreply@blogger.com (Shahpar) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:19:00 +0000

Updates: 9th September, 2010 (Chaand Raat)

A couple of days earlier to Eid, the network that assisted us in transportation / distribution of food items to Sajawal families referred us about some prospect needs in the relief camp Laal Bagh, Sehwan so we planned a visit to the place. As Sehwan is at a distance of around 273 KM from Karachi that is a drive of around 3.5 – 4 hours straight so that comes out as a whole day activity. We planned to utilize the Pre-Eid holiday i.e. Friday 9th September for that purpose and were on our way at around 5:45 AM just after Sehri.

Sehwan – Releif camp @ Lal Bagh

After travelling for around 3.5 hours and a distance of 273 KM and bypassing the cities of Hyderabad and Jamshoro we reached Lal Bagh area. There were around 6500 persons in the camp that was already established there. After having a assessment and discussion with the responsible persons there, we spotted out and being told as well that they had ration (including flour, rice, sugar, pulses etc.) available for them for the next 7-8 days around and the supplies are in continuation. When we mingled up with the IDPs resident in the camp and having a discussion with the persons who were responsible for ration distribution, we found out that the basic ration items are available but there is an acute shortage of Salt and Chilli powder that are essential for cooking any sort of pulse or curry.

Sehwan – Manchhar Lake

From there we moved ahead towards Manchhar lake (that wasn’t over flooded yet) to see if there are some people who need some relief activities. Manchhar lake is at a distance of around 25 min drive from Sehwan. When we reached the place, that was crowded with locals who were on their toes to strengthen the lake banks so that there may be no catastrophy due to this huge bulk of flood water that was continuously coming to the lake so that it can be drained out to Indus river.The water level at that point was noted down by us as reaching to 117 feet height (the total capacity of the lake was 121 Feet)

Dadu and Meharr

From there we planned to move towards Dadu (around 45 KM away from Sehwan) and ultimately to Meharr (around 80-90 KM away from Sehwan). After entering to the limits of Dadu district we observed some intense activity with a couple of excavators that were strengthening a defense wall in front of Dadu city. On the way we talked to a couple of persons about the situation of Meharr city and found out that the city is surrounded by water and its nearly impossible to enter the city at this moment via road. we decided to return back from this point and thought to purchase the required Salt and Chilli powder from the Bhhan Saeedabad or Sehwan market. we were unable to do so because of the fact that we couldn't locate an ATM in both of the cities (we didn't had any cash available with us as this was an assessment phase as well as the on-ground situation didnt permit to carry cash with us)

Coming back to Karachi

We left for Karachi at around 3:30PM and on the way back faced a horrible storm as well as heavy showers while driving on the highway. We did the last Iftar of this Ramadan at a gas station at Noori Abad and continued our journey back to Karachi. When reaching home at around 8:30 PM of Chaand raat, when we checked our speedometer then we found out that we’ve done a coverage of around 700 KMs in a single day.

We would be trying to contact our sources in Karachi to arrange for the Salt and Chilli powder so to ship them to Sehwan during or immediately after Eid holidays.

Next Plan :)

Within 30 minutes of reaching home, a phone call got received mentioning about the presence of a large number of families in the Manghopir area of Karachi that are in an urgent need of Food stuff. One of our volunteers group have been contacted to carry on a pre-assessment phase to sort out the necessities out there. As per the groups’ commitment they would visit the place on Eid day.

So thumbs up and Yes! Chaand Raat Mubaarak :)

Khairpur – Distribution of Clothes and Slippers to IDPs

noreply@blogger.com (Syed Muhammad Humayun) — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 17:30:00 +0000

Updates of 13th September 2010 (3rd day of Eid ul Fitr) & 14th September 2010 (4th day of Eid ul Fitr)

Because of our extremely busy schedule on 2nd day of Eid ul Fitr, we didn’t had time to take a short nap, we rested for 30 minutes and then left for Khairpur @ 3:00 pm. Although total travelling time between Karachi and Khairpur is 7 to 7.5 hours but because we were travelling at night and we were too tired we decided to avoid max speed. We stopped just for breakfast in between at Ranipur’s Royal Inn Hotel. At 11:30pm we reached Khairpur and discussed field situation with SRSO. We chalked out a two day distribution plan, form two different teams and went in to the field in parallel. Our distribution statistics are as follows:

13th September 2010 (3rd day of Eid ul Fitr)

SRSO Tent Camp Saleemabad – 286 Men Kurta/Kameez Shalwar Suits & 286 Slippers
Govt. High School Uberi – 46 Women Kameez Shalwar Dupatta Suits, 151 Boys/Girls/Infants Suits & 197 Slippers
Mohd. Hayat Sheikh – 42 Women Kameez Shalwar Dupatta Suits, 124 Boys/Girls/Infants Suits & 166 Slippers
Pir Bux Solangi – 102 Women Kameez Shalwar Dupatta Suits, 204 Boys/Girls/Infants Suits & 306 Slippers
Kamil Ujan – 20 Women Kameez Shalwar Dupatta Suits, 50 Boys/Girls/Infants Suits & 70 Slippers
GPS Naich – 25 Women Kameez Shalwar Dupatta Suits, 77 Boys/Girls/Infants Suits & 102 Slippers

14th September 2010 (4th day of Eid ul Fitr)

Dao Goth – 86 Women Kameez Shalwar Dupatta Suits & 7 Slippers
Near Dao Goth – 18 Women Kameez Shalwar Dupatta Suits & 1 Slipper
Sim Nali # 1 – 92 Women Kameez Shalwar Dupatta Suits, 50 Boys/Girls/Infants Suits & 14 Slippers
Sim Nali # 2 – 34 Women Kameez Shalwar Dupatta Suits, 60 Boys/Girls/Infants Suits & 14 Slippers
Near Sim Nali – 37 Women Kameez Shalwar Dupatta Suits, 5 Slippers, Utensils etc.

Karachi – Transportation of Clothes and Slippers to Khairpur District

noreply@blogger.com (Syed Muhammad Humayun) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:36:00 +0000

Updates of 12th September 2010 (2nd day of Eid ul Fitr) and 13th September 2010 (3rd day of Eid ul Fitr)

In the early hours of 2nd day of Eid ul Fitr, we left for Orangi Town via Katti Pahari to execute, load and transport order of 1080 slippers to our warehouse in Karachi. By 3:00pm we were able to unload all slippers in our warehouse and soon after that we went to Light House to purchase and transport 106 Men Kurta Shalwar Suits. At 4:30pm we started loading all items on a truck and at 6:30pm our truck departed for Khairpur City in Khairpur District. Estimated time for the truck to reach its destination was 10 – 12 hours.

We then started packing for our trip by road on our private vehicle to Khairpur City and for that we went to car service center and wasted almost 3 hours due to rush. We came back around 12:00pm and now have just a couple of hours for rest after such a hectic day because we will have to gather at 2:00pm and leave for Khairpur City by 3:00pm. The total distance we had to cover was somewhere around 540 km.

View Larger Map

Karachi – Purchasing Clothes and Slippers for Distribution in Khairpur District during Eid ul Fitr

noreply@blogger.com (Syed Muhammad Humayun) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:49:00 +0000

Updates of 10th September 2010 (Chaand Raat) and 11th September 2010 (1st day of Eid ul Fitr)

As soon as we check out from our offices on last day of Ramazan, we went straight to different markets in Karachi in parallel to locate and purchase clothes and slippers for distribution in Khairpur district during the occasion of Eid ul Fitr. We visited Sadar, Bahadurabad, Haideri, SITE, Awami Markaz, Lalokhait 10 Number, Light House and Orangi. We spent all remaining day and Chaand Raat up till dawn of Eid ul Fitr in purchasing, loading and transportation of following items:

101 Men Kurta Shalwar Suits
208 Women Kurta Shalwar Dupatta Suits
83 Boys Kurta Shalwar Suits
68 Girls Kurta Shalwar Dupatta Suits

Apart from above mentioned items, we also booked following orders to be loaded and transported on early hours of second day of Eid ul Fitr:

106 Men Kurta Shalwar Suits
1080 Slippers for Men, Women and Children

Summing them up with donated items, we get following respective counts:

286 Men Kurta/Kameez Shalwar Suits
502 Women Kameez Shalwar Dupatta Suits
93 Boys Kurta Shalwar Suits
128 Girls Kameez Shalwar Dupatta Suits
Approx. 500 Suits for Baby/Baba Children and Infants
Approx. 1200 Slippers for Men, Women and Children

Total

Approx. 1500 Suits
Approx. 1200 Slippers

Karachi – Sorting, Packing, Marking and Grouping Donated Items

noreply@blogger.com (Syed Muhammad Humayun) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:32:00 +0000

Updates of 9th September 2010 & 10th September 2010

After Iftar we started sorting, packing and marking of donated items containing following:

Women Clothes
Men Clothes
Boys Clothes
Girls Clothes
Infants Clothes
Utensils
Bed Sheets, Quilts etc
Shoes, Slippers etc

We worked all night and just before Sehri we were able to process almost 40% of the items. We process rest of the 60% items on next day and again worked from Iftar till Sehri and even after Sehri till almost mid day to finish sorting, packing and marking of all donated items. We found out that we have following items available in respective counts:

79 Men Kameez Shalwar Suits
294 Women Kameez Shalwar Dupatta Suits
10 Boys Kameez Shalwar Suits
60 Girls Kameez Shalwar Suits
Approx. 125 Baba Suits
Approx. 150 Baby Suits
Approx. 200 Infants Suits

Khairpur – Day Wise Distribution of Kitchen Sets and Soaps

noreply@blogger.com (Syed Muhammad Humayun) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:31:00 +0000

Following are day wise details of distribution of Kitchen Sets and Soaps which we started on 24th of August 2010 in different UCs of Khairpur:

Date – 31st August 2010

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Jelani
Camp – SRSO Camp Saleemabad
# Families Benefited – 132

Date – 2nd September 2010

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Nizamani
Camp – GBPS Shah Hussain
# Families Benefited – 3

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Nizamani
Camp – GBPS Mitho Mari
# Families Benefited – 3

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Bhurgri
Camp – Community Hall Daber
# Families Benefited – 10

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Therhi
Camp – Panjal Kalhoro
# Families Benefited – 4

Date – 4th September 2010

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Meher Ali
Camp – Razi Goth/Faiz Mohammad
# Families Benefited – 31

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Wada Machyoun
Camp – Shoukat Khokhar
# Families Benefited – 14

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Jelani
Camp – SRSO Camp Saleemabad
# Families Benefited – 56

Date – 5th September 2010

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Jelani
Camp – Radio Pakistan Faizabad
# Families Benefited – 7

Date – 6th September 2010

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Shah Latif
Camp – Old University Campus
# Families Benefited – 16

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Shadi Shaheed
Camp – Near Markhani Village
# Families Benefited – 4

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Jelani
Camp – Bethak Mubeen Phulpoto
# Families Benefited – 8

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Shadi Shaheed
Camp – Ali Gul Katohar
# Families Benefited – 9

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Shah Latif
Camp – GPS Dabar
# Families Benefited – 8

Date – 9th September 2010

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Bhurgri
Camp – GHS Bhurgri
# Families Benefited – 25

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Bhurgri
Camp – GGPS Bhurgri
# Families Benefited – 31

Taluka – Khairpur
Union Council – Lukman
Camp – Lukman School
# Families Benefited – 17

Date – 10th September 2010

Taluka – Sobhodero
Union Council – Ranipur
Camp – Gambat Morr
# Families Benefited – 126

Taluka – Sobhodero
Union Council – Ranipur
Camp – Rohri Canal
# Families Benefited – 147

Taluka – Sobhodero
Union Council – Ranipur
Camp – GHS RNP Boys
# Families Benefited – 22

Taluka – Sobhodero
Union Council – Ranipur
Camp – Mazhar Model School
# Families Benefited – 18

Taluka – Sobhodero
Union Council – Ranipur
Camp – Ahmedpur Mohalla
# Families Benefited – 105

Taluka – Sobhodero
Union Council – Ranipur
Camp – GPS Bodla Mohalla
# Families Benefited – 6

Taluka – Sobhodero
Union Council – Ranipur
Camp – GGHS RNP
# Families Benefited – 25

Taluka – Sobhodero
Union Council – Ranipur
Camp – GPS Wada Watni
# Families Benefited – 20

Taluka – Sobhodero
Union Council – Ranipur
Camp – GPS Mir Khan Shahani
# Families Benefited – 18

Taluka – Sobhodero
Union Council – Ranipur
Camp – GPS Boys RNP
# Families Benefited – 20

Taluka – Sobhodero
Union Council – Ranipur
Camp – GPS Girls RNP
# Families Benefited – 17

Taluka – Sobhodero
Union Council – Sagyoun
Camp – Dur Mohd Bhagat
# Families Benefited – 4

Taluka – Sobhodero
Union Council – Sagyoun
Camp – Syed Waryal Shah
# Families Benefited – 5

Date – 15th September 2010

Taluka – Kingri
Union Council – Pir Jo Goth
Camp – Stadium Road
# Families Benefited – 17

Karachi: Serving Details at Khokarapar camp

noreply@blogger.com (Shahpar) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:18:00 +0000

3rd September 2010
We visited the place with our lady volunteer and after completing the verification, we provided the following ration supplies in the Khokhrapar camp

75KG Rice
150KG Flour
15 Liter Cooking Oil
10 Kg Daal Chana
5 Kg Daal Arhar
1KG Red Chili
1.5 Kg Tea
15 KG Sugar
2 KG Dry Milk

Karachi: Serving Details at Dil Muhammad Goth (Gadap Town)

noreply@blogger.com (Shahpar) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:06:00 +0000

2nd September 2010:

As referred in the related earlier posting, after confirming a list of 24 families comprising of ~150 people, we served the place after Iftar. We were able to do the purchasing from the nearby Malir market and the items were immediately transported to the destination. Here are the details of the supplies that were provided there:
Ration Supplies:

200 Kg Flour
100 Kg Rice
10 Kg Daal Chana
15 Kg Daal Masoor
25 Kg Ghhee
10 Kg Onions
25 Kg Sugar
5 Packs Salt
2.5 Kg Tea
5 Kg Powdered Milk
1Kg Red Chilly
20 Packs Match Box

Note: The cost for the ration supplies was paid by the same IT guy who referred us to this place, we tried to convince him to let us pay for this but his point was that he wanted to serve here himself but dont want to let the people know about it
Utensils Supplies:

3 Cooking Pots (Degchi) 2 Big 1 Medium
6 Tray (Thal) 2 sizes
24 Plastic Plates
3 Cooking Spoons
2 Jug
2 Knife
24 Plastic Glass
1 Chhalni
1 Set Chakla Belan
2 Roti Tawa

As they belong to the same village and had relationships with each other so we provided the number of utensils that may help them out in cooking their food in a combined manner

Karachi – Serving Phase 2 of Umer Goth

noreply@blogger.com (Syed Muhammad Humayun) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:37:00 +0000

Updates of 3rd September 2010

Through one of our local source in Umer Goth, we get information that the ration we distributed to 44 families earlier is about to end. So we plan another phase of distribution in that area. We immediately arranged 44 packages of ration, where each package contains following items:

Flour 20kg
Daal Chana 1.5kg
Salt 1 Pack
Tea 200gm
Cooking Oil 1kg
Sugar 1.5kg
Match Box 1 Pack

We load these packages on to a suzuki and went straight to Umer Goth for distribution of these packages.

Thatta – Finally Distributing Ration Packages to 255 Families of Sujawal

noreply@blogger.com (Syed Muhammad Humayun) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:56:00 +0000

Updates of 2nd September 2010

We went straight to Army’s Circuit House in Thatta and load all packages in a new truck and transport them to Sujawal and finally distribute it to 255 families there.

Thatta – Serving 450 families of Sujawal

noreply@blogger.com (Syed Muhammad Humayun) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:33:00 +0000

Updates of 1st September 2010

We split ourselves in two teams, first team went straight to Sujawal to give ration tokens to 450 families so we can distribute packages peacefully. Our second team went to near by market to purchase 450 packages of ration, where each package contains following items:

Flour 10kg
Sugar 1.5kg
Daal Chana 1.5kg
Cooking Oil 1.5kg
Tea 200gm
Salt 1 Pack
Match Box 1 Pack

When we were loading and transporting these packages into trucks we got information from our team in Sujawal that a considerable number of families have gone and there are now remaining 255 families. We decided to use rest of the packages elsewhere and move towards Sujawal. But, unfortunately our truck stuck in the middle of the way and then came a dust storm, we tried hard to save the ration loaded in the truck and on a suggestion from Army people we moved all packages to nearby Thatta circuit. We decided to transport these packages to Sujawal next day insha’Allah and called it a day.

Thatta – Initial Assessment of Sujawal

noreply@blogger.com (Syed Muhammad Humayun) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:16:00 +0000

Updates of 30th & 31st August 2010

We tried very hard to get security cover from either Army, Rangers or Police but failed to obtain such. While exploring area around Makli and Thatta, we identified a local network who helped us in our working in Sujawal area. So we started our assessment in this area and identified a total of ~ 450 families there. We will be insha’Allah serving those families tomorrow.

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Thatta – Serving 18 Families near Gujjo

noreply@blogger.com (Syed Muhammad Humayun) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:05:00 +0000

Updates of 29th August 2010

While we were searching the area surrounding Makli and Thatta today, we identified some concentration on a mountain 2 – 3 km off highway after Gujjo. We went there and start assessment of the area. There were total 18 families and they came from Jati, Sindh. They were un served up till now and need ration on urgent basis. We went ASAP to near by market to arrange ration for these families on urgent basis. We arranged 18 packages each of them containing following items:

Flour 20kg
Daal Chana 1kg
Ghee 1kg
Sugar 1kg
Tea 100gm
Matchsticks 1 Pack
Salt 1 Pack

After purchasing, we loaded and transport these packages to the identified area and distribute them to those families.

Makli, Thatta – Initial Assessment

noreply@blogger.com (Syed Muhammad Humayun) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:23:00 +0000

Updates of 28th August 2010

Travel to Makli and Thatta. Spent whole day in the assessing the surrounding areas. Try to locate any available local networks, NGOs, Government Institutions and Armed Forces who are involved in relief activities there. Army was conducting Rescue operations. There were almost 4 – 5 million people out there and security situation was worse because people are looting every caravan that came there to help them. Talked to Army, Rangers and Police but no one agree to escort or give cover for relief operations because people count was huge and they can not do any thing in case of any untoward incident.

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Karachi: Need assesment at Dil Muhammad Goth (Gadap Town)

noreply@blogger.com (Navaid) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:44:00 +0000

2nd September 2010:

With a reference from a known IT guy we visited Dil Muhammad Goth (Gadap Town) to meet Mr. Ahmed and his family who have hosted people coming in from Goth Ghulam Muhammad Jamali, Tehsil Ghadakha & Tehsil Jafarabad Balochistan since past 15 days or so. There they claim to have hosted around ~130-150 people. While visiting there at the day time we saw lesser number of persons being physically present at the location than the claimed numbers. Upon asking about the rest of the people we were told that they went out in search of food towards their relatives, finding some work or even begging for food and clothes. They are kept in an empty plot surrounded by a boundary wall for which they will have to pay Rs. 1500 per month. They initially tried to get some place in the camps located nearby but authorities have refused them due to overload of occupancy. Random checking was done by asking for their NIC and asking for the people and talking to them.
Gender distribution wise there are around 35 men, 70 women and 60 children (including 8-10 infants). 4 of the women are pregnant. There was a girl who is disabled may be due to polio or something for which they were very concerned since she cannot go out with other kids to find food as well as there is an old women whom I believe is suffering from TB as she had problem in breathing properly and had some bleeding while cough. Also 3 days ago an elder man died due to illness in there.

Their immediate needs are: food/ration, cloth, bister (something to sleep on floor) and cooking & eating utensils/crockery. For water they use to get water from neighborhood and store it in a tank already built in the plot. Even if i consider the people being present there at the time of our visit the present items with them were short of their necessity.

Out team will be making list of people family wise with copies of NIC for record and authentication purpose when we visit again most probably on Friday or Saturday and see all of the claimed people gathered there for confirmation of head count before we commit or do any sort of help to them.

We will post updates on it once we are back from there.

Karachi: Need assessment at Khokarapar camp

noreply@blogger.com (Navaid) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 07:41:00 +0000

1st September 2010:
By having information from an authentic source, on 1st September i.e. on Wednesday we went to Khokarapar - an interior area of Malir to meet Mr. Yaqoob who has hosted a few families with the help of his brothers. These people are from their home village Choth Jamali > Shah Bandar > Qadrino > Balti Village, please forgive me if the names are not pronounced correctly. There are 45 Women, 13 Kids, 8 Men in there. All are from respected Syed family of their area. Number of men is lesser since some of them stayed back at their hometown to look after the ruins of their property after the flood while some of them went back after leaving their family members at Karachi.
Main needs are food supplied (ration) since the person hosting is getting into financial problems after supporting the guests for over 15 days. The rest of the needed items like cooking utensils, crockery, floor beds and cloth are already provided by Mr.Yaqoob's family. Men are kept at Yaqoob's home with kids while the women are at his brother's home which is in the same vicinity.
Mr. Yaqoob works in a local textile mill and earns just over 8K a month so we can understand that he will be needing helping hand. Local NGOs and social workers had offered them to provide shelter and food ONLY if they agree to reside at local camp formed at madarsa or school. But they refused as they follow strict parda not willing to live at a mixed kind of camp and belong to a respected Syed family of their area, they wanted to move somewhere else instead of staying at the camp so they refused to enroll themselves with their pics etc. Also what information we have acquired from the same locality is that the camps are already overloaded also food and other facilities are now going bad in terms of timing, quality and quantity.

They have received another family of around ~35 people who are now placed at the house of another relative. The needs of these newly arrived people are not known right now but we have asked Mr. Yaqoob and his brother (Mr. Usman Ghani) that we need to find out about them as well. Since they follow strict parda and not even elder kids are allowed in the woman's area therefore we will be taking a lady volunteer with us time to visit the women area and verify a few things.

We will post the proceedings after visiting them once more at the weekend.