New Office Building And Warehouse Of PRC Inaugurated At Thatta

THATTA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 03rd Nov, 2016 ) : Pakistan Red Crescent (PRC) in collaboration with German Red Cross (GRC) has established district branch Thatta for effective community resilience, Disaster Risk Reduction and livelihood with the support of international donors.

The inaugural stone of newly constructed building of PRC district branch Thatta- which was raised with an estimated cost of Rs. 24 million- was unveiled by the chairman PRC Dr. Saeed Elahi on Thursday while secretary general PRC, Ghulam Muhammad Awan, chairperson PRC Sindh Farzana Naek, secretary Sindh branch Kanwar Waseem, GRC head of office, Hannelore and Consul & Deputy Head of Mission of Germany Mr.

Carsten Muller were also present at the ceremony. Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Saeed Elahi said that the establishment of PRC Thatta branch would focus on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and climate change initiatives.

He said that PRC and GRC were working extensively for almost three decades on disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness, contributing towards improving livelihood and training of relief workers at district level to build resilient communities.

Commenting on the initiatives of PRC at national level, Dr Saeed Elahi said that PRC was expanding its network and programmes such as First Aid, RFL (Restoring Family Links), school Safety, Road Safety, Health Care, livelihood promotion and gender mainstreaming etc.

across the country. He expressed that "First Aider in Every Home" was their mission and PRC was efficiently pursuing this mission by providing FA training to communities in disaster prone areas of Pakistan.

PRC's programs Health & Hygiene, School Safety, RFL and First Aid were praised widely at international level, he said adding that the PRC launched Lost Helpline 1030 service by establishing RFL Help desks in all the major hospitals of Sindh province.

PRC Chairman said that RFL program was running effectively and efficiently and will be extended to all other districts of the province in coming days.

Talking about the Red Crescent Volunteers he said, "PRC has a pool of 1.7 million volunteers and PRC was endeavoring to achieve its target of 5 million volunteers by 2020".

Farzana Naek informed that PRC was strengthening the community resilience through enhancing Emergency Operation (EOC) and Urban Disaster Response Teams (UDRT) and Districts Disaster Response Teams (DDRT) of Sindh HQ, Thatta, Badin and Karachi districts.

She said that PRC with the support of GRC have provided cash assistance of Rs. 40,000 per family to hundreds of families in Thatta. This program was strengthening livelihood sources of impoverished people under phase-II of project "Integrated Rural food Security" being implemented with an outlay of Rs.

66.00 million for over 10,000 beneficiaries. GRC Head of Office Ms. Hannelore also lauded the efforts of both GRC and PRC teams in mitigating the sufferings of vulnerable segment of society. She said that GRC has been working in Pakistan with Pakistan Red Crescent (PRC) for a long time for capacity building of communities and local authorities on disaster response and recovery, disaster risk reduction and livelihood etc.

"We will continue our support to PRC and will leave no stone unturned in expanding our humanitarian services to the vulnerable population living in far flung areas of Sindh province", she added.

Speaking on this occasion, Deputy head of mission German consulate Carsten Muller felicitated the PRC-Sindh on construction of two buildings with the financial support of GRC as branch offices including the warehouse facility in Thatta and Badin.

He also assured the complete support to Pakistan Red Crescent to serve the needy people. Earlier Chairman PRC Thatta branch, Dr. Mumtaz Uqaili, in his welcome address thanked German Red Cross and all those who helped in construction of the building of the branch office in the historic city of Thatta.