Pakistan Emergency Flood Relief Update

Unprecedented Times for Pakistan

August 2022 has been a deadly monsoon season in Pakistan, resulting in a climate catastrophe with more than 1000 lives lost, $10B projected economic loss, and more than 33 Million people affected. The roads and rail link of the largest province, Balochistan, is severed from the rest of the country, while large parts of Sindh province are under several feet of water due to inland lake formations.

Unprecedented flooding requires an unprecedented humanitarian response.

                         

PC: Credits BBC, CNN.

Flood Relief Fundraiser Updates — USD 68K Collected

NUSTIAN USA, in collaboration with NUSTIAN Canada, raised more than USD 68,000 in the first week of the flood relief appeal. A big thank you to our ~290+ donors, who have generously donated to this cause.

We are also thankful to our 20+ employee matching partners who matched donations from their employees. To all our donors, your donations are 100% tax deductible (in the USA) as NUSTIAN USA is a 501(c)3. We assure you that each dollar donated will be sent to Pakistan to support the flood relief victims. NUSTIAN USA will cover all the associated fees/costs for this Flood Relief Campaign.

Families Supported — 1000

To date, the NUST Alumni Association, with the support of the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST, Pakistan), has been able to distribute ration packages to 1000 families, which includes

• Nowshehra, KPK (300 families)
• Risalpur, KPK (200 families)
• NUST Balochistan Campus (200 village families in close vicinity)
• Koh e Suleman, KPK (300 families)

Dispatching ration packs to another 1000 families

• Badeen, Sindh (200 families)
• Sanghrr, Sindh (250 families)
• Nowshehroferoz, Sindh (250 families)
• Balochistan border areas near South Punjab (300 families)

What is in the ration bags?

These ration bags have been set up with input from local volunteers based on the needs of the flood affectees. Each Ration bag costs USD 40 and supports a family of 5 for up to 15 days.

A donation of USD 200 can support five families for 15 days.

Next Steps

As shared in our earlier communication, we have completed our initial assessments for disbursement of funds, and our Board of Directors and Executive Council have decided to leverage the countrywide network of NUSTIANs and NUST Institutions. NUST administration has assured full support for this initiative and promised all possible support to NAA and NUSTIANs for flood relief activities. These include but are not limited to free transportation (long-haul and last-mile), procurement and logistics, accommodation for volunteers, coordination, and collaboration with state institutions. NUST faculty, employees, and students also support this joint fundraiser and flood relief work.

Our decision is driven by the strategic priorities below.

Our strategy:

• Minimize donation management and expense overheads
• Reach the remotest regions of Pakistan, which other aid organizations cannot serve but are accessible through NUST and its affiliated military network.
• Capitalize on the volunteer spirit and human resources of 30,000+ NUSTIANs across Pakistan and around the globe. Many NUSTIAN alums are working on the front lines, and we want to partner with and support them.

Some of our alum and students’ families were directly impacted by these floods. With volunteers’ help and the full support of NUST and its affiliated military fraternity and organizations across Pakistan, we incur nearly ZERO operational costs; therefore, we will use 100% of the donated money.

If you are a NUST Alum and supporting flood relief activities, please get in touch with us.

Partnership with other organizations

NUST Alumni Association (NAA) team led by its president, Dr. Sohail, is in communication with Akhuwat Foundation — its existing partner — to explore collaboration for flood relief activities. This situation is continuously evolving, and the NAA team coordinates with our volunteers in all four provinces.

Employee Matching & Corporate Partnerships

We have received requests from a few companies to present a case to their Employee/Business Resource Groups for potential funding. Our team is currently working on a brief explaining the NUSTIAN USA proposition for flood relief and sharing information on the current groundwork. We hope to convince organizations to support the NUSTIAN USA fundraiser for flood relief efforts.

Our employee matching list has expanded this week, adding General Electric, Salesforce, and McKinsey & Company as Employee Matching Partners.

If you want your company to list NUSTIAN USA for employee matching or want to connect us with your CSR department, reach out to me at [email protected]

We are encouraging everyone to donate. No number is big or small. Even $10/- means you paid a portion for a family’s two-week meal. LINK

This article was co-authored by

Ahsan Rehman (President, NUSTIAN)  and  Uzair Sukhera  (Board Member, NUSTIAN Canada)