Individual Efforts

Operation Labbaik - Update

HelpPakistan.net's Operation Labbaik just went on air on FM 91. In a 12 minute interview, I had the opportunity to put forward the urgent requirements of the relief efforts, and the necessary steps for volunteer coordination.

Operation Labbaik is swiftly organizing logistics and operational support. We aren't the experts on anything, but GATHERING the experts in relevant fields. We need:

1. writers to issue coordinated press releases
2. wiki and blog experts
3. call center operators - we're simply going to set up a mobile team with citizen volunteers. Need donations of cell phone credit here.
4. database managers and operators - people who'll quickly create and update and link the databases
5. website managers
6. accountant, cashier
7. supply chain managers for expert advice
8. doctors for expert advice and to lead paramedic teams
9. Demand schedule planners - to make a schedule of what needs to be transported first in the light of doctors' advice and weather reports
10. workers, team organizers, guides, help desk operators

-ramla akhtar

A young girl from Faisalabad requesting anonymity has donated her entire dowry to the quake relief fund, being collected bythe Khdimat-I-Khalq Foundation of the Muttahida Qaumi Moviement.

A truck-load of relief items, including her dowry, has now reached the Muttahida at Abbotabad.

Second batch of 78 volunteers leaves

A second batch of 78 volunteers left by Tezgam with stoves, utensils, blankets to assist those engaged in distributing aid items to the victims in areas still cut off by roads. These volunteers are trained to work in difficult conditions. The first batch of 57 volunteers had left for Rawalpindi on Wednesday.

A young girl donates her dowry

A young girl from Faisalabad requesting anonymity has donated her entire dowry to the quake relief fund, being collected bythe Khidmat-i-Khalq Foundation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. A truck-load of relief items, including her dowry, has reached the Muttahida at Abbotabad.

Voluntary Web Portal Launched

A voluntary web portal, earthquakepakistan.com has been established to facilitate coordination of relief efforts for the earthquake that struck Pakistan on 8th October 2005. The portal is already online and expected to be live on 14th October 2005; this will help channel flow of information and will include contact details of national and international organizations participating in relief efforts, locations of relief camps, flow of relief goods, location maps, suggestion box etc. Partner organizations of this portal include RSPN, Sungi, LMKR, WWF, and Halcrow Pakistan. Individuals and organizations wishing to publish information on this portal are requested to send their material to info@earthquakepakistan.com. Volunteers experienced in website administration who wish to help run this portal are requested to apply at volunteers@earthquakepakistan.com

Phone +92 51 220 3459-60, Fax +92 51 220 3496 sms +92 301 5522554

Operation Labbaik (I'm Here)

Dear marketers, managers, students, others:
You already have heard about http://helppakistan.net - a website anyone can edit - created to coordinate people2people quake relief.

When I made this, i didnt know where we'd go. Yesterday, i went to PAF museum. There are two bases there, base 1 camp was very organized, i heard. But i landed at Base 2 which was very chaotic. Tons and tons of goods - and thousands of clueles voluntees. After wandering around awhile myself, i decided to organize.

With the help of 4-5 key "managers" - we formed OPERATION LABBAIK. Labbaik means, "I'm here (in answer to your call)!"

I thought up: what's needed to be shipped first?

So, we divided inventory in:
1. Kafan/ burial wrap. Tents
2. Ready-to-eat Liquid group: milk, water, juices, tea, instant milk
3. ready-to-eat solid group: dates, canned foods, biscuits, cooked food, bread, candy, chocolate, energy bar, etc
4. energy: candles, mathces, torch, battery, etc 5. uncooked rations: rice, lentils/ pulses, flour, sugar
6. Hygiene: soap, shampoo, etc.
7. medicine (over to a camp with qualified parameds and doctors)
8. Clothes/ blankets: over to the camp that dealt with them
9. Packers; got qualified factors packers 10. labelers
11. quality control
12. hunting party (to identify and sort the huge unsorted mess). locate misplaced items
13. guides - some great ladies who
14. coordination desk - info, tapes, markers, lights, etc at one desk
15. human chain. standing at order to carry

Everyone was given an ORIENTATION as they entered the area. I designated qualified engineers and factory owners as managers. Some girls were the criers of the group, marching everyone in order. Energetic boys were in charge of their line.

Once the group got organized, they did a great job and in their own territory, they devised new rules. After a couple of hours, i only did management by running around, and they gave expert advice.

TODAY (12 Oct) we're meeting again at PAF around iftaar time. This time we're calling ourselves LABBAIK to lend sense to operation. We are setting up a coordination center to guide, train, operate citizen volunteers. IN other cities, we're replicating this to create other centers. I am making a master plan as of right now - to make sense of this chaos. Our plan was so well-coordinated yesterday that the operation control set-up by the army people were asking us for advice, and sent fauji jawans to help our "supply chains"...

Operation Labbaik is now going to train the volunteers and organize and mobilize them. BECAUSE IF TOO MANY UNTRAINED VOLUNTEERS GO NORTH, THEY WILL BECOME A PROBLEM THEMSELVES.

I will keep you folks updated, but we need some things to organize urgently:

1. low-cost or volunteer printers or people who can print out the tags, flyers, so we can organize quickly
2. people who can make calls, coordinate things
3. people to organize at their city level. Each person will be set up as a guide in their location, and they will team up doctors, climbing and trekking experts, first aid advisors to train volunteers
4. duty-roster managers
5. SUPPLY CHAIN AND OTHER MANAGERS FROM FMCGs WHO CAN GIVE EXPERT HELP

we're setting up place at PAF this evening. Please call me at 0300.2376959. if not attended, leave msg.
if you have an advice for volunteer organization, please call and tell me orally i saw some great stuff here, but dont have time to read.

-ramla akhtar

HelpPakistan.Net Launched

HelpPakistan.net is a wiki that has just launched. Lots of action, everyone can participate, go there NOW. Funds can also be donated through the GivePakistan Fund.

Attock Refinery Employees and Chinese Students

The employees of Attock Refinery have donated two days salary to the President’s Relief Fund.

Chinese students of the National University of Modern Languages have donated Rs. 30,000 to the President’s Fund.

PakistanHelp.com Network

Initially we saw Tsunami, then Katrina and now it's our own country that has been devastated by an Earthquake yesterday. I know and I believe that you people must have done something for the past massacres but this time we have to think and act as quickly as possible.

EarthQuake 2005 has come and gone but it had made damages that every Pakistani would never ever forget again. But this is not the time to get sad about the incident. This is the moment to get up and raise funds for our people. A site has been established to help raise funds for the Earthquake victims. The site is www.pakistanhelp.com. This site doesn't only allow people living abroad to send their donations to the people of Pakitan through Paypal but has all kinds of information you may need to send money by any means. So kindly spread this information to as many people as you can and try to persuade them to give donations in abundance. It doesn't matter, to be honest, how you give donations, the only thing that matters is that it should be utilized properly and effectively.

Regards
Ammad Asim
Webmaster, PakistanHelp.com Network

The Citizens of Karachi

On the 10th of October, Fakhr-e-Alam announced that he was overwhelmed by the response of Karachi's citizens. He had aimed to collect relief supplies to fill one truck but in under 48 hours, 40 C-130 planes worth of supplies had been gathered. WOW! In fact, he requested people to stop sending goods as they were having a dreadfully hard time organizing all the supplies and also didn't have the means to despatch them.

Thousands of people in Karachi on Sunday flocked to donate generously and help their fellow citizens who have been hit by one of the worst ever earthquakes. The people were coming to the camps set up by different welfare organizations and paramilitary troops to collect commodities for the President's Relief Fund For Earthquake Victims-2005. Banks have established special counters at their branches to collect cash donations. A number of stalls have been seen established on pavements and footpaths along various roads.

President's Family contributes Rs 500,000 to Relief Fund

President General Pervez Musharraf, the First Lady, the President's mother, his son and daughter have contributed Rs 100,000 each to the Relief Fund for victims of Saturday's earthquake, which claimed thousands of life and damaged property in several parts of the countr