• Home

Aid pours in, but more needed

ABU DHABI — A UAE Red Crescent (RC) delegation distributed relief material among 15,000 victims in Pakistan's quake-hit city of Muzaffarabad and neighbouring villages.

The relief material include large quantities of tents, blankets, foodstuff and winter clothing for thousands of families in the ravaged capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Fahad bin Sultan, head of the RCS delegation, said Muzaffarabad was in desperate need of relief efforts to alleviate the suffering of the victims.

'RCS is committed to help those who find it difficult to maintain their livelihood in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake,' he said.

'We have drawn up a relief distribution plan for the displaced in Muzaffarabad, where thousands of victims from Gila in the heart of the capital thronged in quest of support and assistance,' he said, adding that the delegation, which toured the city, saw scenes of ruins everywhere.

He said the delegation rendered assistance to the people in the form of 300 tents, mattresses and blankets as well as 1,500 food parcels containing rice, sugar and flour, enough to feed a family of seven members for more than two weeks.

Sultan said the next phase of their humanitarian mission in Pakistan would be to improve services rendered to the poorer classes of the community.

He said the relief distributed in Muzaffarabad also included medical supplies and tents needed to extend the field hospital parameters so that it can receive more and more injured from remote villages for free treatment.

Prof Javid Sando, head of the medical crew at Beema field hospital, said he was grateful to the RCS for the prompt response to the development plans of the hospital, which was immediately equipped to receive the injured from the second day of the quake.

He said since the hospital was set up, some 7,000 patients, most of them with fractures in the jaw, skull and spinal column, were treated and 100 successful surgeries carried out with some intricate cases referred to other hospitals with more advanced diagnostic facilities.

He said that often, they had to climb mountains to reach remote villages where road networks were severely damaged. Despite all these obstacles, the rescue teams from Beema hospital were able to pull out a number of survivors out of the rubble and provide aid to them. Among those rescued, four days after the quake, was a handicapped child who is the only surviving member of his family, he added.

Continued support assured

ABU DHABI — Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Court of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, visited the Pakistan Embassy yesterday to offer condolences over the tragic loss of life and property in the earthquake, on behalf of the UAE government and people.

Assuring UAE's continued support to the distressed people, Dr Shaikh Sultan said the loss of 50,000 lives had aggrieved the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, government of the UAE and the people, who consider the pain and sufferings of the people of Pakistan as their own.

Pakistan Ambassador Ahsan Ullah Khan briefed Dr Shaikh Sultan on the extent of damage and gravity of the earthquake, which wiped out thousands of villages on mountains, besides razing civil infrastructure. He also briefed him on the relief measures being undertaken by the government.

Meanwhile, the Abu Dhabi Women's Development Society has formed a committee to follow-up the cases of quake victims, who are undergoing treatment in the capital's hospitals and to provide them and their families with the necessary assistance.

Amena Omair bin Yusuf, Director of ADWDS, said: 'The formation of the committee follows the instructions of Shaikha Fatima bint Mubarak to keep watch on the condition of the victims and provide them all their needs.' The members of the society will visit the patients and redress their problems, she said.

• UAE