Sorry, it is dec.org.uk - which is 13 of the big UK-led organisations coming together. The idea is that through collaborating they avoid duplication and maximise money to where it needs to go, rather than on administration etc.

Does dec.org take money? How? Where?

Give it to the dec.org - that way it goes to a mixture of charities and they will distribute the money accordingly.

My personal opinion is that money should go to well established charities- we'd all like to do more and think we can do more and think we can do better. But these people have years and years of experience - it is not as easy as showing up with blankets and tents and medicines. Leave it to the experts and trust in them to do the job - you wouldnt ask someone on the street to start cutting someone open and removing, for eg, a shard of glass from their hand. There's a lot more to it and have respect for their professionalism.

Another good idea is to make sure your iftar dinners at your local Masjids have extended invitations to members of a non-Muslim faith congregation.

Since sharing is caring, so to will your guests as they will have a better understanding of what is happening than by other means alone.

Well Babaganoush........

I was thinking of the irony.....its easier for some
non-moslem doctors to be there then many of us in USA because of visa issues and in some cases the risk of losing job. But I got over the hopeless guilt and am glad
that the Pakistani community in USA is in a position to generate and donate more funds and can tap outside resouces better than we could living over there and eventually it comes down to finances as there are many dedicated and motivated people there like Virgogirl providing services . And InshaAllah those of us here can take short trips to do what we can.

And during the war in Afganistan with Russia, the Arab Red Crescent had set up hospitals and sent their doctors to Peshawar and Quetta which many may not be aware of. And I dont know about Doctors Without Borders but WHO teams there have comprised of Muslims I know who went from here.

But its great that the Christain community jumps to the rescue faster as maybe their Church stresses love for humanity and inculcates civil sense better than our mosques.

But instead of giving in to bitterness we should pray to Allah to guide us into finding ways to better help our brethren

Give money to Doctor's Without Borders - www.msf.org - so they can send more experienced medical personnel to the region. They have a variety of medical specialists in their database who they can rely on to answer the bell. E.g. psycho-traumatic counseling for children has already been initiated.

Hopefully, when non-Muslim doctors finish their tour of duty they can help mobilize their respective non-Muslim communities on how dire the conditions really are.

It's a good way to tap into new sources of monetary aid later on down the road about two months from now in Winter.

thanks virgo, we will check out the source you've quoted :)

I think I mentioned SIUT ( Sind Institute of Urology and wat Transplantation?) not Aga Khan people that was in Mansehra doing dialysis for crush victims and they were there in couple of days.

I am not as apalled as you are because you need
heirarchy, even if they wudve volunteered I dont see point in a surgeon pulling people out from rubble when
his specialized service was required in the OR and the expertise not that easy to replace. ( Hey and we chota pandas know that them up there with a halo around their heads cant afford to injure their million dollar hands.. :) )

But I can understand what you are saying and your frustration. And may I say Great Job!

funny and labs.

take a personal advise and check idsp.org.pk.

thu u will not find anything related to the EQ there yet.

this institute specializes in community development for the people by the people. meaning they empower the youth of a particular community to go back and help others grow and develop.

they are now setting up camps and branching to NWFP and Kashmir. they are already working along with the rescue mission and have camps for homeless people.

i am going back next week with colleagues who will help set up a basic post-op medical camp and for those people who have minor injuries and other minor medical problems.

also this organization boasts never to have taken funding from any international organization. but for a project thats as large as the current one - they will be accepting donations and i can personally guarantee that it will not go anywhere other than to develop communities in NWFP and Kashmir

with all due respect to iman - AKU did send up a team immediately but to Islamabad and to PIMS that was already stocked till their teeth.

AKU has a way of making sure its media happy and in the eyes of the international media.

i know camps are being set up now but it was not their teams that went up to masera to dig out patients from under the rubble and also they chose to send their professors who stayed rather comfy in Islamabad.

my own level colleagues - 2nd and 3rd year residents - from AKU training program had to volunteer with the PMA or other government organizations, coz their own more senior professors needed to go and be brilliant in the OTs.

this was not a time to shine thru but to have the sheer man power to dig and slog and pull people out and carry them down the hill to the medical camps.

not sit comfy in Islamabad's top notch hospital and get patients who had received the basic management and then act brilliant in the OR.

am sorry u have really touched a very very raw nerve here

LOT of people have their hearts in the right place,
but I often find objective thinking, good leadership and organization lacking in the way we run things in Pakistan
( even if we forget about fraud and corruption, as is happening here too with Katrina funds) so I doubt very much the Presidents Relief fund wud be best way to go.
I donated initially to international organizations as from what I read they were workin in a more systematic manner ( and ofcourse they have training in providing disaster relief) but there are organizations like
SIUT who I know had docs in Mansehra right away.
Am sure there must be plenty of others.

I may be biased but I THINK the Aga Khan set-up
is efficient, organized and non-corrupt . They might be able to guide you too as they working with WHO and
so I HOPE will have more statistical info then hearsay.

Best way is to hand funds to a person you know,
ideally from the effected areas who will have better
idea about the needs. And assign it for a specific purpose, for a specific area I would suggest.

Nads, I would say we call Muslim Aid or Red Cross- Red Crescent as they make have their act together in terms of organising relief effectively .. there are also organisations like Kashmir International Relief Fund and DEC which we can look into..

*going off to make the phone calls now :P *

(and rolling eyes at music being a valid reason to refuse donations)

Funny if u give me a few weeks to get back to u - there are a few people who have started another organization and i seem to have faith in them cause they were up there regardless of the tremors and the stench from death and the devastation.

u arrange ur fund raiser and plan another soon coz we will need to keep the fund coming in till the area is up on its feet again.