Floods devastated major parts of Pakistan in 2010 and affected the entire nation. It was a disaster of a scale that is beyond any of the other natural calamities that have befallen any other part of the world in recent years. It was worse than the tsunami and the earthquakes as reported the UN Chief.

Every province of Pakistan was affected and millions of people became homeless.  Thousands have lost their lives.

The Petarian Foundation joined hands with the Abdalian Association, Petarian Association, CHAEF, and Kawish Welfare Trust  to provide immediate relief to the affected population and to participate in the reconstruction of homes and infrastructure and rehabilitation of the affected people.

UN has already declared the 2010 Pakistani Floods a bigger disaster than the Tsunami or the Haiti Earthquake. People peacefully living in their houses , tending to their families were suddenly forced to evacuate their homes, watch their belongings drown in the rising tide, and living currently under open sun with scorching heat with no news of where the next meal will come. These people have self respect and dignity and you can watch them cry as they are fighting others to grab a piece of bread that some one is hurling down from a helicopter or a truck.

We are sure each one of you have already heard about the calamities being faced by the poor and helpless people of Pakistan due to the floods. Although, it would be impossible for any of us to fix everything that is out there we can certainly play our part and do the best we can.

We strongly believe that even though these people are poor and helpless, they have hope to rebuild their lives and this country.

Our Strategy:

Petarian Foundation decided on a multi-faceted strategy to approach this disaster. This included joining hands with other like minded organizations to give us greater strength. Secondly, we pursued clear objectives and identified projects. The details are given below.

Partner Organizations:

The Petarian Foundation joined hands with the following organizations to set up relief and rehabilitation camps at Sindh, Punjab and KP.

1. Abdalian Association

2. Noor Foundation

3. Petarian Association

4. Kawish Welfare Trust

5. CHAEF

We have also received support from friends in NJ in USA. Two containers load of food supplies were received from there. Tens of individuals from 15 countries have sent in cash donations as well to support this cause. Thank you all!

Projects and Objectives:

We pursued the following projects to achieve the objectives set before us:

1. Petarian-Abdalian Relief Camp at Jhimpir: We set up a transit / relief camp at Jhimpir, Sindh on the banks of Kalri Lake with 350-400 tents which housed around 3,000 people. It had full facilities for toilets, water, sanitation, medical assistance, ambulance service, etc. We also provided food provisions to the residents.

2. Immediate relief:  Provision of food and relief to refugees in different camps was provided for a period of one month. The cost of food was approximately Rs. 1,600 per person per month.

3. Rescue activities: We arranged trucks and boats to rescue and transport the people stranded in the floods. We procured one 23 foot boat that was deployed at Jacobabad. Each boat costs around Rs. 450,000. Shehzore trucks cost approximately Rs. 950,000 including registration costs.

4. Construction of Petarian Keenjhar Village, Sindh:  As the waters receded in Sindh, we planned and built the Petarian Keenjhar Village at Jhimpir, Sindh. So far we have constructed homes for 12 families at Jhimpir, Sindh and for over 40 families at Garhi Momin near Peshawar. The cost of one home with 2 rooms, veranda, and kitchen with public toilets using local construction materials and pre-fab roof slabs cost around Rs. 125,000-150,000. See photos by clicking here.

5. Reconstruction of homes at Peshawar, KP:  We started this activity in KP right after Eid holidays. There are probably more than 1 million homes damaged or destroyed. So far we have constructed homes for over 40 families at Garhi Momin near Peshawar. The cost of one home with 2 rooms, veranda, kitchen and toilet using local construction materials and pre-fab roof slabs cost around Rs. 125,000-150,000. See photos by clicking here.

6. Healthcare facilities and Schools:  It is our objective to start building healthcare facilities and schools in the devastated areas. More details about these projects will be posted on our website.

Activities:

Our teams moved into the areas, and surveyed villages to provide relief and rebuild homes.

In this regard, we targeted a few villages.

We worked in a planned manner.  Our efforts were under the following parameters:

• We operated under the banner of "Petarians-Abdalians"
• Each of our partner organizations have strengths in different parts of the country as follows:
  • The Petarians have strength in the Sindh areas.  We had set up relief camp at Sachal Goth near Karachi and at Jacobabad. We had also set up a complete camp with tents at Jhimpir with full facilities.
  • The Abdalians led the efforts to rebuild two villages near Peshawar - Garhi Momin and Camp Karoona.
  • Kawish Welfare Trust has strengths in southern Punjab and KP. They had set up camps at Kot Addu and Charsadda.
  • Noor Foundation has been an important source of assisting in raising funds for us to enable us with our work.
  • CHAEF had set up medical relief camps in Nowshera, Mardan, Kashmore and Karachi
• Our team in the Sindh area was lead by experienced hands who did tremendous work at the time of the earthquake. Mahmood Baweja, Major Aamir Syed, Aamir Mumtaz Gopang, Dr. Agha Taj, Azeez Korai and Brig Mukhtar have been spearheading the work in the Sindh area. 
• Alongside the relief work, our teams surveyed the villages to do a strategic planning exercise as follows:
  • We first surveyed the areas to select villages we want to support
  • We set up base camp at these villages
  • Developed detailed project plan for each of the activities shown above.
  • Executed plan in a manner that our funds would have a longer term impact on the people we support.
• Please download our reports below to read more on our progress.
• There were lots of hurdles since the affected areas were not easily accessible.  There was a big problem with snakes and scorpions that had also surfaced. And then there was mud and slush and water to deal with in addition to security issues.
• We needed lots of volunteers.

APPEAL TO ALL WELL WISHERS:

Under these circumstances, we would like to appeal as follows:

• Please come forward with your cash donations as much as possible. You can send your donations through Western Union or through bank transfer to our bank account.
• If you would like to donate in kind, we request you to give us bags of cement or other building materials.  If you would like to give other things, we will distribute those as well.
• If you would like to come forward to volunteer your time, we will welcome this very much.  But please remember that you will be required to do field work possibly in difficult terrain. Please be prepared for that.

This has been our plan of action.