Rotary District 9800
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Disaster Aid Australia (DAA) - You Gave and We Delivered!
On 14 August, the need was to assist 6 million survivors who had been displaced by the catastrophic floods in Pakistan – today, the UN reported the need to assist 21 million survivors with shelter and clean water. Imagine every Australian needing a home and clean water just to survive!
Based in Islamabad, Disaster Aid Response Team (DART) team leader Larry Agee (USA) reports that the region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa is flattened and the devastation is the worst he has seen in five years as a humanitarian aid specialist.
“Our first tents were assembled in Chocki Town where everything was flattened except the school but the 275 students now have no school equipment” said Australian DART Peter Clouting who is on his third deployment. “The headmaster sought refuge from the floods on top of a mosque where he stayed for four days until a helicopter rescued him” he said.
“We have four DARTs on the ground in Islamabad and a further four more Australian DARTs assisting over the coming weeks with their objective to supply as much shelter and clean water to survivors as we can” Jenni Heenan, General Manager of Disaster Aid Australia said.
“Our fellow Australian Rotarians and their friends have worked together by fundraising and personal generous donations so that we could deliver what is needed – it is gratifying and humbling to know that together we are making a difference for these survivors” she said.
Today our DARTs split into two teams – one to Chaderra district and to Nowserea district where they erected Family Survival tents and then moved to Essogay . Forty homes were washed away and the village is now divided by a river.
The next 192 Family Survival Packs will assist survivors placed in government camps who at the end of the month will need to find alternative shelter.
‘With two more containers leaving Shanghai next week, we will move south to the Punjab region to work with NGO’s to set up more camps for survivors” Jenni said.
“Working with engineers on the ground, our DARTs are planning the placement of our SkyHydrant water solutions to provide 10,000 litres of clean drinking water a day – these should be in place in the next weeks, as the most needy areas are confirmed” she said.
