JEDDAH, 27 October 2005 — Six aircraft of the Saudi Arabian Airlines will transport relief goods for the quake victims, said Pakistan’s Consul General Masood Akhtar at a press conference here Tuesday.
Due to a substantial quantity of relief goods pouring in from Pakistanis and their Saudi brethren at the six collection centers, the consulate was facing problems in airlifting these materials to Pakistan.
The delay in airlifting the goods caused misunderstanding among some people who thought it was because of negligence. But that was not the case.
The consulate had been trying from the outset to transport the goods to the quake-hit areas, but “we were stuck due to problems.” Relief goods kept piling up at our Makkah, Madinah, Taif, Yanbu and the other collection centers and the flow was so massive that the quantity continued to increase very fast, said Akhtar.
“The Saudi Arabian Airlines has offered its services on humanitarian grounds by providing a fleet of six Boeing 747s that will operate for six days. This will help us to tide over our problems. “The first consignment of relief goods consisting of 1,500 tents, 50,000 blankets and 185 cartons of medicines has already been dispatched through Saudi Arabian Airlines flight SV986,” he said.
“As per the schedule, one aircraft will carry seventy tons of goods every day. This will continue till Nov. 3,” he said.
Akhtar thanked the Saudi leadership for extending great help at this time of distress. He specially thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for his generous donation and said it indicated his love for Pakistan and its people.
“Saudi Arabia has been the greatest friend of Pakistan and the way the Saudis came forward is unprecedented,” said Akhtar.
“We will not forget the Kingdom’s humanitarian gesture,” he said.
Ambassador Abdul Aziz Mirza is also taking deep interest and is in constant touch with the consulate for update, said Akhtar.
He appreciated the efforts of the principal, teachers and students of the Pakistan International School (English section), who are working day and night receiving relief goods and packing them.
Saher Kamran, director finance and administration of the school said the school has collected SR100,000 in which SR6,500 was alone donated by the Principal Syed Esar Hussain Shah. The school has sent 331 big tents, 290 small tents, 56,057 blankets, two truckloads of medicines and a 40-ft container full of clothes, dates and other foodstuff.
“We are getting full technical and logistic support from the staff of Zahid Tractor,” she said.
The consulate has sent relief goods consisting of 5,252 blankets, 351 tents, 96 leather jackets, 42 cartons of readymade clothes and 66 cartons of medicines between Oct. 13 and 20 through commercial flights of Pakistan International Airlines.
To a question, Akhtar said: “We also received offers from Gulf Air and Emirates to share the burden. But we can’t use them because they don’t have direct flights to Islamabad.” The consulate has already deposited SR14,56,000 in the President’s Relief Fund.
Vice Consul Press Hasan Masud said the relief process is not a one-time affair, it will take months to complete. “We still need 210,000 tents on urgent needs besides 2 million blankets for the survivors,” said Masud.
