IR Projects

Islamic Relief is working on a few projects in Kashmir, details below:

Opening Roads

Islamic Relief has hired 20 large earthmoving vehicles for two months to clear landslides and open roads to areas that need aid.

Distributions

In agreement with the World Food Programme, IR is distributing food to 180,000 people in Muzaffarabad, Bagh, Rawalakot, and Neelum valley. The project is planned to last for six months.

Islamic Relief is supporting International Health Partners (IHP) deliver medical aid worth £2,000,000 in Kashmir.

IR has initiated a project to supply 10,000 families with winter tents and non-food items in 45 days.

Warm clothing is being provided to 25,000 survivors of the quake in four districts of Kashmir.

Clean Water

A project aimed at providing access to clean water for 2,000 families has begun. IR staff are also installing 500 latrines.

Donations

An aid flight paid charted by the UK government arrived in Islamabad with 60 tonnes of aid. The cargo included tents, blankets, water sterilisers and X-Ray machines.

IR Belgium has shipped a 40 foot container of aid worth €25,000 to Pakistan.

The Rotary Club has made a donation to IR Pakistan of 100 pallets of winterised tents and 90 pallets of sleeping bags.

An aid flight left Gatwick airport on 11 November with 50,000 kg of aid. The consignment included winterised tents, bottled water, blankets and water sterilisers.

IR's USA office is sending a 747 cargo plane to Pakistan with aid worth over $2.6 million.

An Islamic Relief donor in Panama has organised a 20 foot container of blankets.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has delivered blankets, pillows and mattresses to IR staff in Kashmir for distribution. The aid will be distributed in Muzaffarabad, Bagh, Dhirkot and Rawalakot.

Source: Islamic Relief

North Face & K.E.R. Nationwide Gear Drop for Quake Victims

Following note comes from the team at Kashmir Earthquake Relief:

There's a North Face/K.E.R nationwide Gear Drop to benefit victims of the October 8, 2005 earthquake in Kashmir from Nov. 18-23. The quake killed more than 87,000 people and left more than 3 million people homeless. Now, a deadly Himalayan winter is fast approaching. The UN was warned that more than 500,000 more people could die from cold and starvation in Kashmir.

The Gear Drop is an opportunity for people to help at the local level across the USA to respond to the approaching threat of a second wave of tragic deaths. This specific effort will direct aid to the most at-risk communities in the quake-hit region of Kashmir. This area can only be reached by traversing over a snowbound 12,500 foot Himalayan Mountain pass.

National collection of tents, sleeping bags, bags, jackets and work gloves to be delivered to Kashmir earthquake victims. You can donate gear or purchase special donation discounted new gear for the quake victims. For all details and donation locations go here. To see a Flash presentation about this human tragedy or to learn more K.E.R. about go here. THIS IS A PREVENTABLE DISASTER - IF WE ACT NOW. So please donate and spread the word. Help us get aid to the victims!

15 % Damage to Pakistani Nuclear Facilities in Quake

Hours after the quake in Pakistan, we had many emails from readers voicing their concern about the safety of Pakistan's Kahuta Nuclear Facility which was just 100km away from the quake's epicentre. The following report has been double-checked by various sources and it has been confirmed that there has been damage to the N-Facilities in affected areas:

There is fifteen to twenty per cent damage to Pakistani nuclear facilities and storage sites in the Northern Areas, especially in Skardu and Chitral, and the local population faces the risk of contamination, but a curfew has been imposed, and they are being actively prevented by the authorities from leaving the area. Because of the serious damage to the nuclear facilities in the Northern Areas, the Pakistan government has turned away international relief teams, prevented Indian Army relief work and Indian Air Force supply drops, and withdrawn the consent for Israeli assistance, fearing that Mossad agents would be infiltrated who would destroy the atomic establishments.

While Western sources did not say that reactors had been damaged in the 8 October earthquake, they confirmed that missile silos had developed cracks, and storage facilities had taken a hit, and since the epicentre is likely to be seismically active for another two years, they expressed fear of further collapse of the nuclear establishments. To prevent leak of this massive nuclear destruction, Pakistan both bottled up the local population by imposing curfew, and did not permit international inspection of the disaster-hit areas.

Source: NewsInsight

Mild quake shakes Maharashtra, no damages

An earthquake of slight intensity rocked western Maharashtra in the intervening night of Sunday and Monday. No damages to property or life were reported. The quake, measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale, occurred in Satara district, 200 km southeast of Mumbai at 12.20 am on Monday.

"It was an earthquake of slight intensity and the epicentre lied on latitude 17.3 degrees and longitude 73.8 degrees," said CVV Bhadram, deputy director general, Regional Meteorological Centre, Mumbai.


Source: HT