Blood Type Awareness at IIUI

A group of Pakistan Relief volunteers at int. Islamic University, Islamabad welcomed the New Year in a unique way. They arranged a program to create awareness of Blood Type on 1st January 2009.
Its very important for every human being to know of his or her own blood type. Unfortunately, in Pakistan the majority of the population is unaware of their blood groups. Such ignorance increases the vulnerability of the casualty during emergencies as well as reduces the number of the blood donors.
The PRIDEA- prepared some informative stuff as well to let students know of the history of blood typing, efforts of the scientists and the research institutions. A teasing streamer, with the wording - "Do you know of Karl Landsteiner ?" had been placed at the main entrance of the university campus on 29th Dec. 08. This helped us creating curiosity across the university campus. Students searched on the internet and read about Karl Landsteiner and the related articles.
The activity started at 09:30 a.m. and continued without any pause till 04:00 p.m. There were so many students gathered that we needed to distribute the coupons to maintain discipline. The students and other staff members of the university remained present near our camp to wait for their turn. They were not only eager to know of their blood type but several amongst them offered us that we can call them for blood donation in case of any emergency. A number of students got enrolled to the First Aid Training program and applied for the membership as well.
We intend to create a culture in Pakistan even everywhere else to motivate people getting aware of such important issues as a part of our struggle for laying the solid foundations of a broader, effective and efficient mechanism of Disaster Prevention, Preparedness and Response at all levels. We hope such basic education will help saving lives- precious than anything else in the world.

Born in 1868, Karl Landsteiner, the son of a prominent Viennese journalist, was educated at the University of Vienna, where he obtained his MD in 1891. After studying chemistry in Germany under Emil Fischer and in Switzerland under the German chemist Arthur Hantzsch, Landsteiner returned to the University of Vienna to work as a pathologist, serving as professor Pathology from 1911 to 1919. He then spent a couple of years in Holland before moving to America, where he took up an appointment with the Rockefeller Institute, New York, in 1922, remaining there until his death.
In 1902 Landsteiner announced one of the major medical discoveries of the century, that of the ABO Blood Group System. He died in 1943 but will be remembered forever.

Prior to this event a seminar on “Disaster Management” had already been conducted at the women campus. Dr. Shaban Kirmani, Head of the Department of Management Sciences addressed the students and faculty members and appreciated the organisers of program for educating their fellows of an important issue. She further admired the efforts of Pakistan Relief and PRIDEA and assured of her cooperation for such a noble cause.

Seminar on Disaster Preparedness

A seminar on "Disaster Management and its Significance" was conducted at federal Urdu University, Islamabad. More than a hundred students and faculty members attended the program. Some faculty members and students had invited Pakistan Relief to conduct a seminar on such an important issue.

Mr. Mujtaba Haider Imran, President of Pakistan Relief along with other senior members of the organization- Mr. Asim Farooq, Mr. Irtaza Haider, Mr. Ikram Ul Haq Sulehri and Wajahat Haleem attended the event.


Dr. Nadeem appreciated the students who made all the arrangements for a successful program. He especially admired Fawad, Zubair, Omer and Aamir etc. for their devotion and tireless efforts for a cause.

The president of Pakistan Relief said that" Students are the most energetic and enthusiastic clusters of our nation both in rural and urban areas of Pakistan. They have been working together with Pakistan Relief as volunteers in various emergencies such as earthquakes and floods. To respond during or after the incidents/ calamities one should have sufficient skills to cope with, effectively". He further stressed upon the need of paying due attention to various capacity building programs keeping in view the latest standards. He said" A well-trained person can perform much better without any equipment than a non-trained well-equipped person".

During the seminar there was a demonstration regarding the role of Radio Communication during Emergencies. Some amateurs got linked with the Hams present in the seminar at Federal Urdu University and exchanged information. The audience liked this segment very much and wished to join the Emergency Radio Communication courses at PRIDEA. Some students discussed of the prospects of doing a project for Pakistan Relief Int. Disaster Education Academy as part of their studies. Some wanted to design home brew antennas for VHF and HF radios and some were interested in developing Weather Stations. They were encouraged by PRIDEA members for taking such initiative to promote the cause of DPPR in Pakistan.

Certificate Distribution Ceremony

After returning back from Germany we started working upon designing a comprehensive plan of action to create awareness and educate people of the First Aid and its importance. We have been traveling across the country for this purpose. For the year 2008 we had set a target of training 5000 people. We achieved this target very successfully since at th eend of the year the total number of the trained ones became 5

272. Its was really very encouraging for since we got th success without any funding either from the government or any foreign NGO.
We had been seeking for some assistance or partnership for the First Aid Training Program yet unfortunately we couldn’t get any assistance.

There were only the two was in front of us either wait for monitory support or start the program within limited resources. We chose the second path and started delivering the knowledge. Normally NGOs allocate a huge or at least sufficient budget for such capacity building training programs but we managed it with the small donations that were mostly given by our members.

One of our members reserved the PNCA auditorium for the First Aid Certificate Distribution Ceremony while Lafarge- Pakistan Cement Company kindly sponsored the refreshment. We had got the knowledge from Germany and we were honored to have Ms. Katharina Lack, the First Secretary and Head of the Cultural Section of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany as the chief guest. Mr Afzal Khan Director NDMA represented honorable chairman NDMA, Maj. Gen. Farooq Ahmed Khan. An eminent educationist, Dr, Amina Nasir, Ex. HoD, Faculty of English, NUML, Mrs. Naheed Shahid, Dircetor Pakistan Sports Board and Mr. Nasir Khan, President PARS and several other were also the guests of honor. During the program 214 certificates were distributed among the successful trainees.

Pagosans Celebrate Sister Community in Pakistan

Participants enjoyed typical South Asia music played by Paul and Carla Roberts. A video describing how two small communities located on opposite sides of the world, Pagosa Springs and Gurais, Pakistan, are working to promote cultural understanding and world peace was enjoyed by all. Todd Starr entertained everyone as he auctioned Pakistani hand-knotted carpets. Our guest, Mr. Mujtaba Imran, President of Pakistan Relief, explained how this sister community relationship is laying the foundation for peaceful co-existence of the Muslim and Non-Muslim worlds. The approximately $8,000 generated by the fundraiser will be used to provide 10 ladies living in the Gurais Valley with an additional 8 weeks of midwifery training, and to establish another computer center and another sewing center. Thanks to all who make this program successful.

FLOOD IN PAKISTAN & LOSSES THEIR LIFES

Pakistan mourns air crash victims

The Air Blue’s Airbus A321 went down around 9.45am in the Margalla hills, north-east of the Shah Faisal mosque on Wednesday 28th July 2010. All 152 dead include 7 children, 29 women and the 6 crew members.

Both, the torrential rain and heavily forested hills made the rescue efforts very difficult. The rescuers made it possible by a 1500 feet vertical climb through the dense brush and slippery boulders.

The familiarity with the trails of the Margalla hills and ground support from Mr. Khalid Shoaib a Geophysicist helped Pakistan Relief’s Emergency Response Team to locate and reach at the scene of disaster within an hour. Each of the ERT members successfully transported a rucksack full of High Angle / Mountain Rescue equipment and medical supplies, weighing 12 to 25 Kilograms.

Soon after arriving at the crash site we observed that almost all the bodies of the passengers were badly mutilated and charred due to the fire which had erupted right after the collision. The monsoon drizzling helped extinguishing the fire but the smoke resulted into poor visibility and suffocation. Body parts of the passengers were found scattered over a radius of about 400 meters.

The First Aid material found to be useless because there were no survivors. There was need of polythene bags and pieces pf cloth to wrap the dead bodies so we transmitted a message through radio to our head office for assistance. Another team took the required stuff and delivered it to the hilltop.

The crash left twisted pieces of metal wreckage hanging from trees and scattered over the inaccessible hilly area. The CDA, 1122, Pakistan Red Crescent staff together with a number of local volunteers kept on collecting pieces of bodies till sunset. Clouds of dense grey smoke billowed from the burning wreckage as a small Army Lama helicopter hovered above. According to experts, this is the worst plane crash ever on Pakistani territory. Military troops as well as Air Force and Navy commandos were also called in to aid the local police and rescuers. Three helicopters of the Army Aviation took part in the rescue operation. A state of emergency was declared in all hospitals of the federal capital and Rawalpindi by the administration to tackle the situation.

Reportedly, the disaster occurred when the plane lost height unexpectedly and collided with the mountain peak, an expert opined. The plane had descended considerably to land at the Islamabad airport, which was some 20 kilometers from the crash scene. Islamabad had received heavy downpour hours before the crash at 9:45 am. Airbus A321 of Air Blue’s flight ED202 took off from Karachi Airport at 7:42 am. The flight reached in time at 9:30 am and the pilot approached the control tower of the Benazir Bhutto International Airport seeking direction for landing, the sources said, adding that due to rough weather, the control tower asked the pilot to make the landing approach from the north side. The pilot followed the instructions and turned in the direction of Margalla hills but suddenly lost contact with the control tower and minutes later it crashed on the hill side. Some residents of Islamabad have witnessed the plane flying on very low altitude near Blue Area and E7 sector prior to disappearing in clouds and crashing.

The relatives of passengers and crewmembers kept crying over the tragedy. Numerous men and women are still waiting at the government hospitals in Islamabad to receive the dead bodies of their relatives and friends. The health officials said they would have to use DNA tests to identify charred bodies plucked from the wreckage of the airliner.

Deutsche Welle joins hands with Pakistan Relief

..... given rights to reprint the DW Urdu and DW Asia Compact’s contents in its news-magazine “ZEEST”. After the GMF- Global Media Forum at Bonn, Germany, in June this year, president of Pakistan Relief Mujtaba Haider Imran was invited to attend a meeting with Mr. Grahame Lucas, Head of Deutsche Welle’s South Asia Service. During the meeting Mr. Lucas and Imran discussed different matters of mutual interest. Mr. Lucas admired the efforts of Pakistan Relief and assured of his cooperation for the enhancement of its humanitarian efforts in future. He informed that “we have a daily programme called "Asia Compact", a 15 minute look at current affairs across Asia. He further said that “we also have a development programme and an environment programme which may interest Pakistan Relief and Wilderness Pakistan. Our Urdu programme has several daily news and current affairs programmes which contain a different background magazine every day on topics like culture, civil society, Germany and Europe, women, Dialogue between East and West, Youth and Science, technology and environment”. Mr. Lucas had invited Pakistan Relief to submit a concept paper regarding the prospects of cooperation, in 2008.

After the meeting Mr. Mujtaba visited Urdu section and met with entire team. In the evening Mr. Lucas again invited all the members of Urdu section at his office for a film show about Pakistan Relief.

Meanwhile Mr.Tobias Grote-Beverborg DW marketing department and Ms. Angelika Newel, Head, Distribution Asia/Australia have also expressed their gratification and best wishes for such a wonderful cooperation between Pakistan Relief and DW. Ms. Angelika mentioned “I am quite confident that our good relations will continue to grow”.

Mr. Mujtaba explained during the meeting that there is an immense need of a Radio Station that may fulfill certain needs of educating the audience in a way of learning with fun and to provide them with real infotainment. He added that “It will be a Non-profit and non political platform to set the new trends and explore new horizons of educating people through Radio transmissions. The proposed Radio station is going to be the first ever dedicated Humanitarian Radio Station of Pakistan. With the passage of time and gradually, we will expand the radius of transmission because we feel like addressing the inhabitants of remote areas of Pakistan, too”. He concluded that “As an integrated part of the entire endeavor of laying down the solid foundations of the Disaster Prevention/Preparedness and Early Warning Mechanism the role of Radio can not be ignored”.

Since many of Pakistan Relief members are radio amateurs, we have been focusing upon Emergency Radio Communication training at PRIDEA- Pakistan Relief Int. Disaster Education Academy as well. We are the only organization that is focusing upon this important field, indeed.

We envisage that this cooperation will certainly help strengthening the bond of friendship between both the nations of Pakistan and Germany. The DW’s marvelous support for a humanitarian cause is being appreciated.