Press Statement of KRDF

Luton, 9^th October 2006

Kashmir Relief and Development Foundation (KRDF) UK organised the 1^st Anniversary of the devastating earthquake, which wiped off almost 3 districts of AJK, as well as the 1^st anniversary of KRDF, in Luton on 8^th October. The people who addressed the program were Malik Latif, the president of KRDF, Zafar Sharif, the Chief Coordinator of KRDF, Lord Bill Mackenzie and Zafar Khan Chair of Luton Council of Faiths, Sardar Shafiq, ex Oxfam representative, and Bilal who lost most of relatives in the last years earthquake.

They all remembered and paid tributes to all who lost their lives and showed solidarity to who survived and are trying to rebuild their shattered lives.

Zafar Sharif gave a 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 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 are still buried under the mud and mountains.

Many 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.

JKRC (now KRDF) was set up on 9^th October.

 KRDF is now registered as a charity in England. The aims are basically to help the survivors of natural disasters.

 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.

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.  

The most difficult task was to deliver tents and sheets because of their sheer size and the desperate need of the people. Our volunteers would go to villages, do the survey, issue tokens and then go back and distribute. They reached where no one had reached before.

We set up tent cities for the people who had lost everything and set up temporary medical centres and schools in tents.

 We started a project of providing books, bags and tents for the damaged schools.

 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. They are still living in the worn out tents after one year. Schools and colleges are still not there. The promised shelter and funds are not reaching to the survivors.

 Only 17% of 450000 households have started rebuilding their houses. Rest are still without the means.

 Most of the NGOs worked for about three months and then left. There are very few NGOs now working in that part of the world. It is utmost important that these people are not forgotten by the international community. We have to keep going back till the reconstruction is complete. 

KRDF has 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 parents time to rebuild their lives. 

 KRDF has started giving scholarships this year to top 100 students who have just completed their secondary education. This will help them to continue their education.

We would like to sponsor or provide scholarships to the graduates to complete their studies who have not been able to continue due to the disaster. This includes bringing them to UK and also sending them to other colleges and Universities in Pakistan.

 Kashmir Education Trust (KET) Sheffield and KRDF has just finished an educational programme in Bagh where KET took 14 lecturers from Sheffield and Leeds who taught English and IT courses for 6 weeks. KRDF and KET want to continue these educational programmes and send more teams of lecturers.

 The first reconstruction project of KRDF is the Namnotta Primary School, which is now almost complete. Luton council of faiths sponsors this project. We are very thankful to them. The whole project is costing around £5500. 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 LC of faiths.

 We have also set up 5 vocational training centres equipped with 20 sewing machines, tables and chairs in each centre. This project is sponsored by Kashmir Education Trust Sheffield. We are very thankful to KET. We are setting up an IT centre in Bagh, which is again sponsored by KET. They have provided 20 computers and 3 printers for this centre

 KRDF is setting up one Vocational Training Centre, one primary school and one secondary school in Muzaffarabad.

Further five centres within next 12 months will be set up and Mrs Asim of KET has sponsored these five vocational training centres.

 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.

Sardar Shafiq, ex Oxfam representative, spoke about NGOs work and Bilal told his own earthquake day suffering.

Lord Mackenzie appreciated the work of KRDF and promised to help KRDF in future projects. Zafar Khan thanked KRDF for working with LC of faiths and doing their project. Other local councillors and community leaders also attended which included Cllr. Hussain, Akberdad, Raja Wahid Akber, Haji Abid Hussain, Taj, Hussain Shahid, Khan Farooq Khan, Raja Rauf, Maulana Chishti and Yousuf Choudry.

Mailk Latif 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. He also announce opening of KRDF office in Luton which will along with local community for the development of youths. Yousuf Choudry was appointed director of this youth development project.

END

Zafar Sharif

Chief Coordinator KRDF.

Click to see the photos of this function

Kashmir Relief & Development Foundation  (KRDF)
Formerly  known as Jammu Kashmir Relief  Committee (JKRC)
Registered Charity in England and Wales No. 1114625
63 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, London E17 4SA
Phone :-+44 203 042 5470  Email: - info@krdf.net Web: - www.krdf.net