Youths group bridges Chinese Samaritans with Pakistani flood victims

BEIJING, Sept. 8 (China Economic Net) - A civil group named China-Pakistan Youth Exchange Community received messages from Pakistanis asking for help and started fundraising online since August. Now they have raised around RMB 2 million to buy tents, food, daily necessities and other supplies for flood-stricken people in different districts of Pakistan.

 

The group has provided 600 tents to flood victims in Multan which are urgently needed and mostly used by people displaced by floods. In the future, they will provide another 500 tents for those flood-affected residents in Multan, according to Ma Bin, leader of the community.

 

Ma said that its Multan team had provided a complete set of rescue plan for 100 particularly poor families in flood-stricken areas. Each of the rescue packages contains a tent, two blankets, drinking water, food and daily necessities.

 

Notably, they also bought PVC sheets used in the construction of animal shelters, forage and feed for animals. Ma told China Economic Net (CEN) that his volunteer witnessed a father who wanted to rescue both his son and a cattle from the water, but had to watch his cattle washed away.

 

"Apart from houses and valuables, flash floods washed away local people’s poultry and livestock, and completely damaged standing crops. All these were their source of earnings, now people do not know how they would survive. It’s heartrending. We hope to do our best to help iron brothers in distress,” said Ma.

 

“Now we have seven groups of volunteers collecting and distributing required items to families in desperate need. On September 3, our fourth team distributed a total of 300 parcels including flour, cooking oil, rice and sugar in Nowshera, Khyber PakhtunKhwa province,” Ma told CEN.

 

"We also established cooperation mechanism with China Rural Development Foundation, Beijing Tongxinyuan Charity Foundation and other foundations who are raising funds in China and providing professional instructions for us," Ma added.

   

Despite traffic disruptions, scattered victim settlements and difficulties in sourcing supplies, the volunteers went deep into the front line of disaster relief and delivered clean water and dry ration packs to 200 families in Gilgit and 375 families in Balochistan.

 

Ma said that large areas of Balochistan still sit half-submerged in the water. “The floods turned people’s world upside down. Many household items were also damaged. Disasters and secondary disasters are still developing.”

 

On September 4, volunteers of the community distributed cooked food to 8,000 affected residents in Balochistan. “Our efforts are far from enough, now floods in the Gilgit mountainous area have passed through the border. We saw many children's shoes and clothes are worn out, and all kinds of living and food materials are urgently needed,” Ma appealed for more support for Pakistani people.

 

“We received many phone calls from both China and Pakistan who wanted to lend help. In China, we have a donor from primary school who donated all his pocket money. While in Pakistan, we have a pregnant volunteer who insisted on purchasing supplies for us on the front line. Those heartwarming stories are happening everyday,” Ma said.

 

“We act as a bridge between donors and disaster victims. In the future, we will continue to provide assistance for those affected, improve our work efficiency, and pass on love and care,” said Ma.