Iran: Blankets For Pakistan Flood Victims

25 August 2010

Iran: Blankets For Pakistan Flood Victims

Tehran (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has purchased 200,000 blankets from Helal Iran Textile Industries, which belongs to the Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to be distributed jointly with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society to flood victims in Pakistan.

"The ICRC was seeking 350,000 blankets for the flood victims," said Pierre Ryter, head of the ICRC mission in Iran. "Thanks to our cooperation with the Iranian Red Crescent, we managed to purchase more than half of what we needed in Iran Because Iran shares a border with Pakistan, delivering the blankets will be relatively easy and quick."

The loading of the 200,000 blankets onto 55 trucks will be completed within a week. Meanwhile, a first convoy of 11 trucks will cross the border at Mirjaveh, in Iran's south-eastern Sistan-Baluchestan province, in the next few days.

A total of 35,000 jerrycans have also been purchased in Iran, of which 20,000 are already in Pakistan and will be distributed soon. The remaining 15,000 will be delivered by mid-September. The ICRC mission in Iran is in the process of assessing what other relief items needed for Pakistan can be obtained in Iran.

The ICRC and the Pakistan Red Crescent are focusing their joint relief efforts mainly on areas in Pakistan's north-west where they had already been carrying out humanitarian activities before the floods struck for people affected by the fighting. They have already helped more than 250,000 people in many disaster-stricken areas and are determined to quickly meet the needs of several hundred thousand more.

ENDS

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