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Flood Relief Operation 2010 Phase-I

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I think there should be some kind of flood relief donations setup on this forum by moderators. so forum members can donate the money by their credit cards or checks whoever can afford.. This would be great work.. Many forum members are outside of country and they can donate on other NGO websites by credit cards.but if someone can setup collecting donations system on this forum and willing to distribute to flood affected people it would be great. The major benefit for donating on this forum is that at least everyone knows the credibility of this forum and wont be hesitating in donating money.

I've mentioned in my previous posts that we're very soon going to launch a Phase-II of this operation. Donations will be handled by the forum management and I will personally manage and supervise all the relief efforts as well as making sure transparency in our efforts.
 
High carb foods for longer sustenance I think (I am no expert but I think I recall reading that somewhere on a discussion on what constitutes good relief supplies in terms of food). Candy, sweet naan etc. are great.

IS wheat bread available instead of enriched white bread in Pakistan? Those of you who have spent time in NA probably realize that the latter is heavier with more fibre and fills you up more than the enriched white bread.
 
:Mod Edit:
 
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^ Nope. :) Nice try though.

Back to the topic.
 
High carb foods for longer sustenance I think (I am no expert but I think I recall reading that somewhere on a discussion on what constitutes good relief supplies in terms of food). Candy, sweet naan etc. are great.

IS wheat bread available instead of enriched white bread in Pakistan? Those of you who have spent time in NA probably realize that the latter is heavier with more fibre and fills you up more than the enriched white bread.

You're right but the most important thing in a relief operation is the amount of funds you have and the cost of important food items. For eg; Enriched white bread can be bought for around 20-25rs and it will cater at least 2 people while bronze and pure wheat bread can cost a bit more, almost double the amount. The purpose is to cater as many people as possible so we have to go with quantity over high quality.

10 people with enriched white bread are better off than 5 with a bronze bread.
 
Some video's I made to give us the idea of what we're dealing with, please watch in order they are posted:

Destruction and hopelessness on every single step. I'm walking in a street at Kalaant, Nowshera.




Delivering food to the people of Kalaant, Nowshera.



Hand delivering water myself to the refugees on Peshawer Motorway.


Refugee status on Peshawer Motorway.


Flood victims from Chaar Sada explaining the situation

 
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Excellent, excellent work Bezerk. Perhaps you should consider picking up some oral rehydration solutions as diseases like diarrhea and dysentery spread pretty rapidly in such conditions.

1-ORS.jpg
 
Dear Bezerk,
May I suggest you to change items in your package.
I advise to remove chips etc. and add bread and hot dogs.
Since, you are not airdroping your packages than consider using larger water bottels than those small ones.
Jazak Allah.

Thank you for the suggestions.

Reason why you see chips is because it's compressed food high in calories and energy. These items were delivered to people who didn't have anything to eat for days. Such items can be stored easily and consumed with ease, ensuring instant energy.

Hot dogs? Not a very popular thing over here. Meat cannot be delivered to such areas where they've lost their homes. Exactly why we didn't deliver Flour (Atta), Rice, Oil etc because why deliver such items to people who don't even have access to fire, utensils and a kitchen?

Part-II of this operation is going to focus more on stuff like Flour, Rice, Oil etc. We will also try to deliver compact gas burning cylinders and pans to cook roti.

As far as the bottles are concerned, large bottles were given to families made up of 4 to 5 members. 1.5 Liters of water is enough to survive. In fact, they were the largest available.
 
Video's have been uploaded. Please take a look at the amount of destruction and starvation that we came across during this operation.

More to follow.
 
This image sums it up.

IDP1.jpg



Camped on the motorway:

IDP2.jpg
 
I am not sure whether this is being used in Pakistan, but I remember hearing about this basic yet effective water filtration technology used in Yemen on a program on NPR a few months ago. Given the concerns over wells being polluted and a general lack of potable water in Pakistan, this might be a good initiative to promote:

The village of al-Zafen was chosen as the site for a pilot project by the Social Fund for Development to test the efficacy of the clay filters. The results have been promising. The filters are comprised of a clay pot set inside a plastic bucket with a nozzle at the bottom of it. All one has to do is pour water, no matter how dirty, into the clay pot and wait for the clean drinking water to drip into the plastic bucket. As it drips it is exposed to the disinfecting silver that saturates the pot. The silver, which presents no health risks in such miniscule amounts, kills off 99.89 percent of the microbes that live in the water. Toxins are filtered by the clay and the resultant water ends up being cleaner than the average bottle of water. Even in test runs where sewage water was used, the resultant water was clean and drinkable. Skeptics often have trouble getting past the filter’s rudimentary appearance, but its simple design belies its potentially life-saving properties.

Tariq al-Zafeni was a skeptic when the Social Fund workers gave him a silver filter in 2008. “It didn’t run on electricity, it’s made out of clay, you don’t have to change anything inside of it. I thought this would be worthless. But I know now that it is like a gift from God. It’s the simplest thing, you don’t even have to clean it everyday.”

Its simplicity and effectiveness are its strength, and Yemen’s development community has started to take notice. Garreth Richards, the general manager of Care International Yemen, provided his testimonial: “The silver filters present development workers with the ideal water purification system. It’s simple enough that anyone can be taught how to use it, and it’s proven to be effective. There are no risks like chlorination which, when used incorrectly, is at best ineffective, and at worst poisonous. When Care deals with projects that involve drinking water, we use and will probably continue to use Rich Boni’s filters.”

In fact, Care is not the only organization taking note. The UNHCR uses thousands of the silver filters in their refugee camps. The Islamic Relief and the Red Cross also purchased thousands when Hadhramaut was struck by floods in 2008. A fully decentralized water purification system is saving thousands of people from the agony of gastrointestinal disease, as well as the thousands of rials a month spent on medical attention, and it all happened by the virtue of a happy accident.

Michael Klinger, the former country director of the GTZ in Yemen, built a kiln with the intention of making clay irrigation equipment, the market for which proved to be too small. The kiln sat there until it was realized that they could cheaply fire silver filters. The idea came from an American NGO called Potter Without Borders, which has been the biggest driver in spreading the filters around the world. After simply providing a training program to Boni and his potters, they left the company to develop independently. Richard Boni was working on the filters from the beginning. “We started with only a couple of hundred misshapen blobs of clay. Slowly we started to streamline our method, and perfect our product. Now, we quite easily bang out a thousand a month.” Under the auspices of Boni, the company has grown to its current level. Through his incredible attention to detail, he has made a product that is trusted by the development community. And attention to detail is one of Boni’s strongest assets.

Yemen Today - Silver Filters: Providing Clean Water to All
 
Tribute to the self starters!
 
Never heard of anything like that, AM.

Water purification tablets will work the best around here.
 
:Important Update:

Part-II has been finalized. We need donations before the coming Wednesday.

For your brothers and sisters in need, please come forward and actively take part in this relief effort. Anyone willing to donate can send me a PM.
 
If any of you are going to the areas then you may as well take this hypothermia survival message with you:

HELP: HEAT ESCAPE LOSS PREVENTION POSITION -
help.jpg

Arms close to sides of the chest, legs crossed & pulled up closing the groin area.

HUDDLE POSITION:
huddle.jpg


In the huddle position, keep close together and still - to keep colder water out. The huddle helps small children survive longer !
 
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