MANAMA/DUBAI, 21 October 2005 — Al-Arabiya satellite news channel said yesterday it would stage a joint telethon with Saudi Television tomorrow to raise funds for victims of the massive earthquake in Pakistan.
Saudi TV in Riyadh will air reports by Al-Arabiya correspondents in the affected areas “in an effort to mobilize relief aid and raise donations to alleviate the human suffering” caused by the earthquake, said Al-Arabiya, which is based in Dubai.
Al-Arabiya will be linked to both “the field base in Pakistan and the central donation receiving location in Saudi Arabia” but will not collect donations itself, the station said. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states have pledged financial aid and sent large amounts of relief assistance to Pakistan, where the Oct. 8 quake left nearly 50,000 people dead, around 74,000 injured, and over three million homeless.
US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, that is usually busy supporting coalition troops in Iraq and conducting maritime security operations, has been organizing relief efforts for quake victims for the past two weeks.
US military officials here have acted as coordinators to help deliver relief goods given by countries in the region for the quake victims.
For the second time in five days US sailors in Bahrain loaded relief goods on board a US ship at Mina Salman Harbor to have them ferried to Pakistan.
Four tons of food consisting of milk, flour and bread belonging to the French Navy were shifted from the French military supply ship VAR and loaded onto the US Cleveland amphibious transport ship to be sent to Pakistan.
It is the second ship to be loaded with relief goods from the same dock after the amphibious dock-landing ship USS Pearl Harbor that arrived in Karachi on Oct. 18 carrying heavy machinery including cargo trucks, a forklift and a generator for clearing debris and fixing roads to improve access to affected areas.
The 5th Fleet took up the added responsibility of coordinating and sending relief goods from Gulf countries, besides US and coalition aid, as more than 500 tons of relief material from the region await transportation.
“We are working with governments and embassies in several countries in an attempt to coordinate regional efforts because the people of the region had been so generous in trying to reach out to the people of Pakistan in this time of tragedy,” said the 5th Fleet spokeswoman Lt. Leslie Hull-Ryde.
The flurry of activities witnessed by the 5th Fleet Command in Bahrain is similar to those witnessed by other US bases in the region to have US aid sent to Pakistan by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) that is coordinating the overall effort of the relief operations to assist the earthquake victims.
CENTCOM resources are already stretched with troops committed to Iraq and Afghanistan, but the massive relief effort that is expected to continue for weeks to come will not affect its operations according to public affairs officer with the Disaster Assistance Center in Islamabad, Capt. Rob Newell.
He also added that the US would continue its assistance efforts for as long as the Pakistani government asks for it.
