In 2005, Mohiuddin Trust came to the aid of victims of the South-Asia earthquake, identifying urgent needs to support children and orphans affected by the tragedy. The Trust responded by providing approximately two thousand children with fundamental education, clothing, food, medicine and accommodation. The Trust has also played a vital role in providing disaster relief to the victims of the Pakistan earthquake in July 2010.
Since then, Mohiuddin Trust has continued with its aid relief campaigns and the Trust’s dedicated volunteers are constantly on hand to ensure that all projects are continuously progressing.
The Pakistan Monsoon rains in late July 2010 were described as the worst in the last 80 years. Heavy rains over the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Baluchistan regions of Pakistan flooded the Indus River basin.
Approximately one-fifth of Pakistan’s total land area was underwater, approximately 796,095 square kilometers (307,374 sq miles). According to Pakistani government data the floods directly affected about 18 million people, mostly by destruction of property, livelihood and infrastructure, with a death toll of just under 2,000.
The Pakistani economy was harmed by extensive damage to infrastructure and crops. Damage to structures was estimated to exceed £2 billion, and wheat crop damages were estimated to be over £360 million. Total economic impact is considered to have been as much as £30 billion.
Mohiuddin Trust concentrated relief efforts in the most worst hit areas – which according to the co-ordination teams on ground were identifed as regions in and around Muzaffargarh, Kot Addu and Layyah.
Mohiuddin Trust embarked on emergency relief activities to begin with by distributing urgently needed food supplies, blankets, tents and gas canisters.
Mobile medical clinics were setup in concentrated areas to prescribe medical attention to the sick, of which the numbers swelled to thousands. Whilst there were many volunteers, many from the Mohiuddin Medical College, assisting in this task additional help had to be recruited to cope with the crowds.
As the flood waters endured the co-ordination teams resigned to clearing away the remaining water, debris, carcases of livestock and other obstacles from the ruined remains of homes, shops and mosques. With the sheer size of the devastation the teams on the ground found their work cut out.
Realising the extent of the long-term damage the Board of Trustees proposed to build new houses for the flood victims, a significant number of which were now homeless and sheltered in temporary tents and makeshift shacks. Acknowledging the magnitude of this disaster it was agreed to make provisions for some 200 houses complete with sanitation and running water.
The lingering unpredictability of the weather delayed this task and further hampered by subsequent flooding at the start of 2011. The Trust faced challenges on several fronts, firstly the quest to acquire contiguous land large enough to build the proposed number of houses along with ancillary services. Secondly, in order to initiate the construction work the land needed to be suitable for constructing 200 houses and thirdly, to provide running water for the houses it was essential the acquired land was close to, or ideally on top of, sources of clean water.
However in response to pleas from victims to provide housing on their respective lands and with signs of reluctance in leaving their family dwellings honourable Pir Sahib was quick to adapt the overall Trust strategy to respect the wishes of the victims. Although this proved more timely it gave a sense of satisfaction to know that our efforts would be more fruitful.
Eventually in the first quarter of 2012 Mohiuddin Trust had the pleasure of announcing the completion of 200 homes dotted all around Muzaffargarh, Kot Addu and Layya. Furthermore we ended up supplementing our initial pledge by providing an additional 50 homes thanks to the outstanding project management and meticulous financial planning thus totalling 250 homes inclusive of clean running water and sanitary facilities.