Dubai sends more relief to Pakistan flood victims

Three containers loaded with tents, mattresses and dry food are set to leave tonight, taking to six the number of relief containers dispatched to Pakistan this week.

DUBAI // Three containers loaded with tents, mattresses and dry food are set to leave Dubai tonight for flood-stricken Pakistan, taking to six the number of relief containers dispatched this week. The 40-foot containers to be shipped tonight will also carry biscuits, flour, rice, juice and blankets. About 1.5 tonnes of medicine will be sent on Pakistan International Airlines and AirBlue over the next two days. Officials with the Pakistan Association Dubai (Pad) said having a roof of any kind was vital for the millions left homeless in two weeks of flooding that has killed 1,500 people. "It is like the end of the world for people there," said Inayat ur Rahman, Pad's acting general secretary. "There are millions and millions homeless and the rain has not stopped. Tents are badly needed because people have no shelter, their homes are completely destroyed."

The organisation has collected Dh300,000 in cash for distribution in flood-hit areas. The UN has described the scale of the physical disaster - with 14 million people affected - as worse than that of the 2004 Asian tsunami. About two million people in the Dir and Chatral districts of north Pakistan and large parts of Swat were cut off with little aid reaching them after floods destroyed 17 bridges. In southern Pakistan, houses in towns and villages surrounding districts such as Dera Ismail Khan and Tank have also been washed away. Pakistani residents in Dubai and expatriates have pitched in with supplies and cash contributions over the past week. Candles, torches, plastic buckets, food, drinking water, filtration equipment remain on the priority list, Mr ur Rehman said. Pad has also appealed for more volunteers to help sort supplies.

"We need as many people as possible to come forward," he said. "There is a lot of work. Clothes need to be sorted out according to age and sex." Pad's work timings during Ramadan are from 12 noon to midnight. The US national Kevin Maher, his wife and a Pakistani colleague were among the few volunteers packing cartons this morning at Pad's office in Bur Dubai on Oud Metha Road. "The piles are not moving quickly enough," he said. "They could use more volunteers. Ten to 20 people coming in for a couple of hours will clean it up." Mr Maher, who works with the US telecommunications firm AT&T, and his wife, a professor at the American University in Dubai, said they volunteered after reading an appeal in The National and will go in again next week.

Iqbal Khalil, the director of the Lahore-based aid group Al-Khidmat, spent three days with 1,000 volunteers distributing food, water and setting up water filtration plants in the northern Peshawar, Nowshehra and Charasadda districts. He said the true nature of the disaster was only now unfolding. "People are stuck on rooftops in Swat [province]," he said. "The army is trying to rescue them but the number of boats is too small. Millions are still stranded and help must reach them quickly." [e-mail]