Over 30 male and female volunteers participated in the campaign during which they distributed 5,000 food baskets and 5,000 blankets in addition to clothes and hot meals to the residents  particularly widows and orphans, affected by the disaster, according to IIROSA Secretary-General Adnan ibn Khalil Basha.

“Since the very first hours of the natural disaster, IIROSA started to make field survey of the areas most affected by the torrential rains and floods and immediately began extending relief assistance to the victims in east, south, west and central Jeddah,” he said.

Basha pointed out that each of the 5,000 food baskets weighed 37.5 kg and consisted of rice, flour, sugar, tea, cooking oil, salt, powdered milk, tomato sauce and other ingredients. He added that the IIROSA has also distributed 250 coats and 250 pairs of shoes.

“More than 7,500 hot meals were also distributed among victims who were accommodated in furnished apartments,” he said. Basha said IIROSA benefited from its experience during the Jeddah floods of Nov. 25, 2009 when it immediately earmarked SR10 million to finance urgent relief operations which consisted of large quantities of foodstuffs, clothes, covers and medicines.

He said during that crisis, IIROSA also provided school requirements to more than 5,000 students through cooperation with the Department of Education in Jeddah, provided accommodation for more than 500 expatriates, established four medical clinics in various parts of the city and rehabilitated and furnished a number of damaged houses.

“IIROSA is always present in any place from which a cry for help is made,” he reiterated, adding that since its inception early 1979, the organization has been paying a special attention to the victims of natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, cyclones, drought, desertification and heat waves as well as to the victims of man-made catastrophes including civil wars, sectarian conflicts and racial disputes. “The Organization has extended a helping hand to more than 22 million refugees and tens of thousands of the displaced,” he said.

Basha explained that the efforts of the IIROSA were not confined to providing relief assistance to people in distress and the victims of natural and man-made disasters only but also extended to include assisting in development efforts, helping the poor and needy people, sponsoring orphans, building schools and educational institutions, constructing hospitals and health centers, conducting surgical and catheter operations for cardiac patients, fighting blindness and digging wells to provide potable water to needy people everywhere around the world.

“More than 88 million people all over  the world have benefited from the assistance extended by IIROSA without distinction due to color, race or creed,” he said.

The secretary general said until the end of the year 2010, IIROSA has organized 1,057 urgent relief campaigns in 149 countries, which benefited about 43 million people.

“Backed by a long experience, IIROSA has made it a point to move very quickly whenever there is a natural or man-made disaster dispatching its teams who are loaded with foodstuffs, tents, blankets, covers and medicines to relief the victims,” he said. “These teams overcome difficult terrains to reach remote areas so as to relief the victims and the distressed,” he added.

Basha cited official statistics about natural disasters in the world, including the Muslim countries, and said these disasters killed more than 260,000 and caused financial losses of more than $222 billion in 2010. “The natural disasters have increased by three folds over the year 2009 when they killed 215 million people and caused financial losses of about $63 billion,” he recalled.

According to these statistics, only 260 people lost their lives as a result of natural disasters in 1976.

The Secretary General urged the Muslim countries to introduce a state-of-the art early warning systems to be able to avoid the harms that may be caused by natural disasters. “There are now advanced technological devices which can accurately predict weather forecasts and climatic changes,” he said.

He pointed out that the immediate need of the victims of natural disasters is accommodation since they may have lost their homes in these disasters. “For this reason, IIROSA focuses on providing the victims with make-shift tents, covers, food and medicines,” he said.