KRDF organised “Eid Milan Party” in London

London, 17 December 2007
Kashmir Relief and Development Foundation (KRDF) UK organised “Eid Milan Party” in London in order to highlight the Kashmir earthquake which destroyed the basic infrastructure of Kashmir region on 8^th October 2005. People from varied business and cultural backgrounds were invited in order to give them the update of the work done by KRDF and the impact of projects carried out by the foundation on the survivors.

The programme started with the recitation of versus from the holy Quraan followed by the Naat Shareef read by Mohd. Aslam Chugtai. Trustee of the foundation Mr. Mahmood Hussain, gave a brief introduction of KRDF to the guests. He started by paying rich tributes to all who lost their lives and showed solidarity to who survived and are trying to rebuild their shattered lives.

President of KRDF in UK Malik Latif, while welcoming the guests in this programme thanked all of them for their continuous support to KRDF from over the years. He said KRDF believed in results rather than making pledges to the people. He invited people to visit the projects run by KRDF and observe the difference these educational projects are making to the survivors of earthquake of 8^th Oct. 2005.

Zafar Sharif, Chief Co-ordinator of the KRDF gave a detailed visual presentation of the destruction caused by the earthquake, how people have managed since then, what role have NGOs played and what still needs to be done. He gave a detailed report about the projects of the KRDF.

He said that the earthquake destroyed almost 1/2 of AJK in few minutes. The scale of destruction is difficult to explain as villages were completely wiped off. Villages were also buried under mountain falls. Villages slid down the hills completely. Many were injured seriously. Roads were damaged and many areas were cut-off for almost 15 days.

Children got buried under schools and hostel buildings and the bodies found were not recognisable.

Thousands of people were displaced and some still have not been able to find their loved one.

He said that on seeing such a large scale devastation KRDF launched its relief and rescue efforts soon after the earthquake struck. He said that we are proud of saying that our teams of volunteers reached to the affected cities on the same day of the earthquake. They set up relief camps in all major cities of AJK. We sent first supplies of food, water and blankets on 9^th October. In order to save the children from mental trauma of this tragedy, KRDF launched an educational programme “Ilm Ki Shama Jalayey Rakho” and established mobile schools in tents. KRDF also distributed books and other necessary items to the children donated by the people.

Zafar Sharif said that the emergency relief work continued from the relief camps 24 hours a day. Our volunteers helped people to save lives as well as digging out the bodies and arranging the burials. Our volunteers travelled on foot where no transport could go and carried food and other supplies on their shoulders. This relief work continued along with supplies of tents and metal sheets up to end of March 2006. He also said that KRDF volunteers would went to far flung villages, did the survey, issued tokens and then went back to distribute. They reached where no one had reached before.

With the help of visual presentation he showed to the people that after the initial phase of the emergency relief work, the reconstruction work was the most important task. There are many a thousands still without proper shelter. Schools and colleges are still not there. The promised shelter and funds are not reaching to the survivors.

Zafar Sharif said that KRDF continued its activities with whatever resources it had and most importantly with the help of other NGOs. We identified the needs and decided that we could only work on health and education. It was very important to get children back to school as soon as possible as education plays a vital role in protection and providing children with a safe environment and giving parent’s time to rebuild their lives.

Giving the details of the projects done by KRDF, he said that the first reconstruction project of KRDF is the Namnotta Primary School, which is now providing education to 135 students. The result of this school was 95% this year. The people of Namnotta, which is about 15 km from Rawalakot city, are very thankful to the residents of Luton and the management team of Luton Council of Faiths, who sponsored this school. The second school by KRDF was built in Challa Bandi in Muzaffarabad, which was the epic centre of the earthquake. He said that this school is up and running now. He also said that other two schools are under construction which will be completed till May 2008. He said that KRDF wants to build a High School in Muzaffarabad for which we need your help.

The chief Coordinator of KRDF said that besides building schools, we also established Vocational Training Centres for women. He said the main aim of these centres is to make women self-reliant so that they can contribute financially in their families. He said that so far we have established 9 Vocational centres in different areas of Azad Kashmir namely 1) Makiala Ghirkot 2) Ravli Barian 3) Dera 4) Birpani 5) Panyali in district Bagh, Kaitheky in Muzaffarabad, Dawaryaan in Neelum Valley and one in Seena Daman in Jhelum Valley.

He said that KRDF provides these centres all the necessary items to run them and also employs a teacher who teaches the women. He said there are some other similar projects in pipeline for which we need the continuous support and prayers. He further said that KRDF finished an educational programme in Bagh in which we took 14 lecturers from Sheffield and Leeds with the help of KET who taught English and IT courses for 6 weeks. KRDF and KET want to continue these educational programmes and send more teams of lecturers.

He said that KRDF is setting up water supply schemes in most far flung areas of Azad Kashmir. First project of this kind is about to complete in Banjosa in district Rawalakot. He said that some other applications of such kind of projects have been received by KRDF and we are waiting for the donors to sponsor them.

Zafar Sharif also said that health centres for children and women and old age are very much needed in all parts of the affected areas.

Some people in this function pledged to sponsor most of those water supply projects.

The Assistant Commissioner of Muzaffarabad, Masood-ur-Rehamn who is in UK these on the educational tour attended this function as well. Speaking on the occasion he explained his personal experience during the earthquake. He said although he lost lot of his relatives on 8^th October 2005 but by looking at the sufferings of the other people, his misery and tragedy seems small. He said KRDF has done a great job over the years by helping the people to rebuild their shattered lives. He praised the efforts of this foundation and urged the people to keep on helping the foundation.

The local Councillors of Newham appreciated the work of KRDF and promised to help KRDF in future projects. Other local community leaders also attended which included Cllr. Abdul Karim Sheikh, Cllr Zulfiqar Ali JP, Cllr Abdul Shakoor, people from London’s business community Mr. tariq Ahmed, Ch Gulbahar, Haji Mohd Rasid, Haji Moh Ismail Babu, Mohd Yousuf, Mohd Maroof, Master Khizar Azam, Mohd Farooq, Mohd M Saleem, Haji Fazal Hussain, M. Yasin, M. Ashraf, Khadim Hussain, M. Salim, tahir Zaman, Haji Mumtaz, Faisal Nazki, Mahmood Faiz, Mahmood Hussain, Afzal Mir and Sanowar Hussain . Women also attended this function.

Mahmood Hussain thanked to the NGOs who have worked with KRDF, guests and all the local people who came to attend this program and also donated to KRDF.