Oct 25, 2005 9:52 PM

As per the TCF Relief Committee meeting on Monday, October 24, 2005 - Focus is shifting towards fundraising for reconstruction & rehabilitation... this phase will determine the future of the region.

Adnan Asdar (TCF Relief Coordinator) is back in Karachi. Crucial meeting with the Relief Committee tomorrow. Stay tuned...

Oct 25, 2005 3:49 PM

MUZAFFARABAD (AFP) – A baby girl born in this quake-hit city of death and devastation has become a symbol of hope for survivors, as the “tsunami baby” captured the imagination of Sri Lankans when he was survived from the giant waves last December.

“Word has spread and everyone wants to see her,” said Ismet Kamal, a volunteer from Karachi at the field hospital where the baby was born on Saturday. “Survivors come to see her, they say she brings hope,” she said.

Gynecologist Azhra Ahsan said that the baby had come as a “nice surprise.”
“It made everyone happy to have a baby born. There has been so much death here,” the doctor said. Ahsan said she had not expected to do much gynecological work when she volunteered to join the team from The Citizens Foundation NGO that runs the field hospital in the City, where 38,000 victims of the October 8 earthquake died.

Oct 25, 2005 3:43 PM

reconstruction & rehabilitation plans are being finalized.
donate now to help house the people you sheltered.

Oct 18, 2005 3:40 PM

10 days after the earthquake, the TCF Relief effort is in full swing. So far, 100 tons of relief goods have been shipped from Karachi (60 tons via container vehicles and 40 tons via air).

Shelter – 1168 tents are providing temporary shelter to more than 7,000 people. In addition, 9,219 blankets have been sent in the first week. 2,500 tents and 4,500 sleeping bags are in transit.

Food – 700 food care packages were shipped in the first week of operations, and 2,675 are currently in transit. These care packages will provide enough sustenance for almost 17,000 people for one week. In addition to the food packages shipped from Karachi; 8,000 litres of water, 3 truckloads of fresh fruits & vegetables and 1 truckload of powdered milk have also been provided to the affectees.

Medical Aid – Three medical camps have been set up by teams supported by TCF. A 40-bed field hospital (backed up by a container hospital) with three fully equipped operating theaters, x-ray & laboratory facilities is set up in Neelum Stadium, Muzaffarabad. This hospital delivered Farheen, the first baby born after the earthquake. Additional 60-bed field hospitals are set up in Batal & in the High Court lawns, Muzaffarabad.

Permanent Housing – Three aspects of the long term reconstruction and rehabilitation plans are being tackled in parallel. 12 agencies with international experts in the field of post-disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation have been identified & their support has been garnered. A framework of guidelines for working in the affected has been developed, including property & legal provisions. Lastly, several prototypes are being developed for different areas utilizing different materials, with focus on safety, replicability & cost effectiveness of the structures...

Oct 15, 2005 11:13 AM

Devastation in Muzaffarabad...

Oct 15, 2005 10:58 AM

2 doctors from our medical team returned from 5 days in devastation yesterday. based in the town of Bagh, the doctors treated upto 150 patients per day, some of whom had walked to their camp for 6 hours to get treatment. the doctors slept a few hours a night in a mosque - one of the only closed structures still standing that could provide them some protection from the increasingly cold weather. continual tremors in Bagh made continual sleep impossible. the message they conveyed is that there is an urgent shift in medical requirements from general first aid to decisive medical aid - essentially surgery. a medical care unit has also been established at muzaffarabad.

more to follow...

Oct 14, 2005 4:25 AM

there are major logistical bottlenecks in the entire region east of mansehra... traffic jams are slowing down the transfer of relief goods, which are albeit coming in steadily. the medical teams continue to work round the clock in Bagh, although a visit to the village of Batal yesterday was devastating - it is a ghost town. another temporary hospital is being set up in Muzaffarabad.

the streets of Balakot are littered with the remains of unused relief goods, and relief workers are having to spend hours walking into the city due to the traffic jams.

folks in karachi & the US have been working on acquiring satellite images of the region with limited success.

the fundraising effort continues steadily, with supporters of the relief effort - local & overseas - uniting like never before.

official information will be posted on the main TCF website. again, this site is a voluntarily-run operation, and may not reflect the opinions of those heading tcf.

Oct 12, 2005 8:53 AM

- all tents / blankets / supplies (~500) have been moved from Karachi to Islamabad, and subsequently distributed via trucks to areas starting in Mansehra towards Balakot, Bagh and Muzaffarabad. needless to say, the demand is far exceeding the supply.

- architect Yawar Jilani flew to the northern areas on monday with his survey team, and has informed us of the utter devastation he has seen. they arranged 4 truckloads of water bottles in jerry cans which were dispatched on Tuesday to balakot and adjoining villages.

- 4 truckloads of vegetables were immediately dispatched on monday night towards Muzaffarabad, where distress calls for food for villagers by our engineers on ground were answered.

- we have news of survivors from 80-90 families in the village of moosa in the mountains on the road towards muzaffarabad. among the many affectees we will try to dispatch care packages to them as well.

- we are waiting on delivery of tents & blankets from dubai and other areas so we can dispatch them. zero net inventory is being maintaned at both karachi and islamabad which is a major success of the logistical effort - our teams in both areas are dispatching truckloads & flightloads without delay.

- the relief coordinator, Adnan Asdar has moved to Islamabad and in the future will give us daily reports of what was accomplished in the preceding 24 hours.
aside from monetary donations, we are requesting donations for heavy-duty tents and blankets (in bulk loads) to be sent directly to the TCF Relief Fund Warehouse in Islamabad, clearly marked with contents and quantities for tracking & accountability:

TCF Relief Fund c/o Adnan Asdar
Plot 331 Street 1
Sector I9-3 Industrial Area
Islamabad, Pakistan

Oct 12, 2005 12:02 AM

pls forward to all concerned -

The Citizens Foundation (TCF) Earthquake Relief Fund

Account Name: TCF Relief Fund
Bank: Askari Commercial Bank
Account Number: 015-010104331-7
SWIFT Code: ASC-MPKKA

TCF Relief Fund Karachi Office
9th Floor NIC Building
Abbassi Shaheed Road
Karachi-75530 Pakistan

Phone: 0301-2910344 to 53 (10 lines)
Fax: 021-5682772
quake-relief@thecitizensfoundation.org

TCF Relief Fund Islamabad Warehouse
Plot 331, Street 1
Sector I9-3, Industrial Area
Islamabad, Pakistan

Oct 10, 2005 12:57 PM

media coverage is beginning to show signs of the real disaster. most distressing is that the army has not really reached areas like balakot and muzaffarabad in substantial numbers yet. international aid agencies are showing support.

update from today's TCF relief meeting

- the first shipment of 600 tents, blankets & sweatshirts were sent today via PIA to islamabad. i've seen the tents, they are made of army canvas with a tough parachute lining on the inside for waterproofing, and can house at least 10 ppl each. in the immediate relief effort, the tents, blankets and supplies are being distributed based on need to any and all affected areas including those not covered by the organizations already in operation. we are expecting another 2000 tents and 4500 sleeping bags to come in from carrefour via dubai. other immediate requirements identified were 2000 pick axes and shovels for the locals to facilitate the clearing out of rubble, which are being procured. most people are using their hands to move the debris right now.

- dozens of boxes of medical supplies (including pain killers, antibiotics, syringes, etc.) are on a flight to islamabad to be administered by a team of doctors flying out tonight. they will join up with another team of 12 surgeons & doctors already operating in mansehra from today. a major risk is the outbreak of disease & infection so this is just the first small step to curbing this.

- the warehouse in pindi was activated and is now setup to receive the relief goods with phone / fax lines, and is communicating with karachi HQ in the NIC building for logistical assistance & lead time to manage the distribution.

- the most critical area of the relief effort is long term (LT i.e. the next 8-12 months) during which the TCF relief effort will reconstruct and rehabilitate an estimated 5000 homes, long after the media has left the area. the idea is not to forget that immediate relief only goes so far. plans and designs are being drawn up by a team of the top architects, engineers and consultants in the country to create options for affordable, sustainable diaster-proof homes. the models will be replicated on a large scale over the course of the next year.

- TCF Relief Fund headquarters are in karachi, at the NIC building (9th floor) next to FTC. there was an overwhelming response today with inquiries about what ppl can do to help:

- donations are being accepted via cheques made payable to "TCF Relief Fund", or cash depositable directly to the relief HQ at the NIC building or at any Askari Bank branch all over pakistan. DAWN will carry an ad on Tuesday with the bank account number for wire transfer & other contact information for donations. the online donation system for TCF relief has been slightly delayed, but will be activated within the next 24 hours.

TCF Relief Fund
9th Floor NIC Building
Abbassi Shaheed Road
Karachi

more to follow...

Oct 10, 2005 3:25 AM

thecitizensfoundation.org donations page for the relief effort should be up within a couple of hours. we have the backing of the national carrier PIA, logistical support from pakistan's largest distribution network (IBL) and the resources of hundreds of people already who have made generous contributions. relief efforts continuing in cities will run in parallel to our work which will run in underdeveloped areas from rawal kot to muzaffarabad, in between and beyond. a survey team of medics and engineers are being mobilized in the next 48 hours or so to scope out the area. a camp office has been set up in pindi which will coordinate the logistics. it's working.

Oct 9, 2005 4:09 PM

i just got back from an earthquake relief meeting for the TCF Relief Fund. the media's disaster coverage only tells a small part of the full story. the death toll by official accounts is ~ 30,000 in kashmir alone. we have people on the ground in mansehra, balakot & muzaffarabad - the situation is extremely grim, with tens of thousands dead and thousands more displaced & homeless. as reported by news agencies, entire villages have crumbled. our immediate focus must be on how to help those who can still be helped.

- immediate short-term goals involve getting funds for tents, blankets, non-perishable food (rice / dry milk / daal / salt / aata) and medicines for 20,000+ people. this involves a transparent fundraising effort, procurement of necessary goods in bulk & subsequent transportation to the north. we are also coordinating w/ various NGOs already present in the affected areas and liasing the distribution effort to ensure that the maximum affectees are relieved. requests for helicopters are in and we are trying to further the cause in azad kashmir beyond muzaffarabad, where all the roads have effectively been washed away by land slides.

we've actually made incredible progress already in just 36 hours, which needs your help to be sustained -

- 2500 tents & 4500 sleeping bags being flown into karachi (and subsequently to the north) free from dubai via PIA
- 600+ tents and blankets being sent via PIA / AirBlue tomorrow to islamabad
- a team of 10-12 surveyors / engineers & medics is being mobilized to get an eye witness account of the real on-ground needs
- top medical practitioners including surgeons, pediatricians and GPs have committed to setting up camps in the north to facilitate the effort.

- the relief HQ has been set up in karachi for overall management / logistics / fundraising / finance

TCF Relief Fund
9th Floor NIC Building
Abbassi Shaheed Road
Karachi, Pakistan
(phone numbers to follow)

- camp offices are being set up in islamabad and rawalpindi for receiving / warehousing / logistics / distribution / monitoring (including internal & external audits) / reporting (contact / address details to follow)

long term (12+ months) goals involve re-building / constructing permanent, disaster-proof homes for an estimated 5,000 families. plans and designs for previous efforts in the northern areas by aga khan foundation, etc. are already being incorporated and the task of coming up w/ cost effective & safe designs is being undertaken by the top professionals at the institute of architects pakistan, the institute of consulting engineers and the institute of builders and developers. re-building these villages is an extremely challenging task and requires full support to see it through.

here's how you can help:

- donations can be made to special TCF relief accounts being setup online at www.thecitizensfoundation.org/relief_fund and at http://www.tcfusa.org/events/EQReliefFund.htm for those in the US. the accounts & websites are being created as we speak, so look out for info on the updated website within the next 24 hours. in the meanwhile, please spread the word about this effort. more to follow...

Oct 9, 2005 8:55 AM

a huge relief effort is underway under the umbrella of TCF.

there are people already on the ground, in islamabad & kashmir, distributing tents, blankets, and other basic necessities. in the short term, temporary shelter, first aid and non-perishable food are most needed. will let you know what you can do to help tomorrow. look our for the ad in DAWN & on thecitizensfoundation.org in the next couple of days.