News
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Austrian people donated 5.6m euros for PakistanShabbir Sarwar
LAHORE: Caritas Austria Director Franz Kuberl said that Austrian people equally share the grief and sorrow which Pakistani community suffered in the form of calamities and floods and they have contributed 5.6 million euros for the rehabilitation and reconstructions projects in Pakistan.
Kuberl, who is currently on a visit to Pakistan, talked to Daily Times, on Wednesday, at the office of Face Pakistan, a partner organisation of Caritas, here in the city. He said that Caritas in collaboration with ‘Faces Pakistan’ is building 600 houses for the flood-hit people of six villages of Kashmore. He said that out of 600 houses, 200 have been handed over to the victims, 100 are ready and rest of the 300 will be completed by December this year. He said Caritas was also helping out the people caught in a trauma by providing them food and medical care.
He said Austrians are very much sympathetic towards the calamity stricken people of Pakistan and they raised 5.6 million euros in just four to five weeks. “This is a gesture of solidarity of Austrian people with the Pakistanis in this hour of need,” he remarked.
The Caritas director said that it was a very good sign that a lot of local and national organisations of Pakistan were also working in the rehabilitations work and they have learnt to cooperate and help out one anther for this noble cause. He said earlier he came to Pakistan in 2007 and he was shocked to see the devastating damages caused by the earthquake. He said after the complete rehabilitation of the flood victims making proper arrangement for their education will be a big task and their organisation would also contribute in the second phase development work.
The Caritas president is on 11-day visit to Pakistan. Heading a three-member Austrian delegation, Franz Kuberl is visiting projects and field offices of partners. Caritas Pakistan is a non-political, non-profitable development organisation working in Pakistan since 1965. It is a member organisation of Caritas International which is based in Rome, Italy.
Faces Pakistan vice president said that these 600 houses are being constructed with the financial assistance of Caritas in six villages of Kashmore, including Sherlabad, Habit Pakko, Gulsher Chacher, Badal Sabzoi, Bhunner, Jatoi.
Earlier, Javaid and his team members, including Elaine Alam, have a comprehensive briefing to the Caritas delegation regarding their development projects.
Faces Pakistan (FP) is striving to promote inter-religious harmony, human rights, social justice, sustainable development and gender equality while helping the communities to gain access to these social development factor. It is a non-profit organisation, with its parent organisation in England namely Faces UK. FP has worked on various projects successfully including Flood Relief Emergency Project 2010, Youth Active Citizens Project, Vocational Training for Housemaids, Schools for Afghan Refugees’ Education, Gwadar Disaster Project, Dera Ismail Khan IDPs Project and various other projects in Pakistan.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk