The worst natural disaster in Pakistan’s history has left the Pakistani nation in deep sadness and anxiety. The community of one million Pakistanis living in the United States is equally saddened. From Los Angeles to New York and across Pakistan, there is not an eye that is not shedding tears over the disaster. Many are describing the level of sadness among the Pakistani community as unprecedented.
The Pakistani Americans have remained well-informed about the unfolding tragedy ever since it struck Pakistan on October 8. This was possible because an extensive coverage that the Pakistani satellite channels gave the disaster. The biggest advantage of the coverage was that it evoked a huge wave of sympathy and compassion among Pakistani Americans, mobilizing them to help their brethren in distress immediately after the news of the disaster broke.
Many Pakistani Americans are eager to take part in the relief effort, giving donations to the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and the Edhi Foundation (a private Pakistani relief agency), in addition to the Pakistan embassy and consulates in the United States.
The Islamic Circle of North America, despite its limited resources, displayed unprecedented generosity and compassion in reaching out to the disaster victims. Teams of volunteers from the ICNA and Edhi Foundation are actively taking part in the relief operation in the affected areas. The ICNA received more than $400,000 in donations, without even making an appeal for them. ICNA, it may be recalled, has announced one million dollars in aid for the disaster victims and now expects to get donations well beyond their targeted goal.
Similarly, the Islamic Relief Fund has also appealed for $10 million in donations for the earthquake victims. Other Muslim organizations, including the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the American Muslim Council, have also become active, while the Association of Pakistani Physicians in North America (APPNA) established a relief fund for the victims.
Several leading figures of the Pakistani American community, including religious, political and social leaders, have called upon their fellow countrymen to give donations generously. They said that the Pakistani community must set aside its political differences and work wholeheartedly in order to provide relief to the victims. They cautioned the Pakistani community before donating to examine the credentials of the relief organizations to which they are sending money. Similarly, community leaders added that the Pakistani community must look into the overhead expenses of organizations to which they are donating (to ensure that most of the donations reach the needy and don’t end up in the pockets of those running these organizations). They advised it is best to give directly to the Pakistan embassy, consulates or the Edhi Foundation.
Pakistani leaders also said that all those who wish to take relief goods to the affected areas in Pakistan themselves must do so as soon as possible. They stressed that in addition to offering the people affected by the disaster relief in the form of goods, psychological comfort is also very important.
They said that Pakistanis living in Europe and the United States could help their countrymen in different ways. Some of these leaders suggested that the overseas Pakistani community could “adopt” orphans by taking responsibility for their education and day-to-day expenses. Similarly, the community could help arrange weddings for orphan girls, who are of age to marry, through generous donations. Pakistani leaders hoped that there would be hundreds of thousands of kind-hearted people within Pakistan who are willing to donate generously for the affected people. They said that well-off Pakistani Americans should rise to the occasion and take the lead role in this effort.
