Imtiaz Sooliman – . speaks about the challenges faced while offering humanitarian assistance

Imtiaz Sooliman
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The speakers discuss the challenges of providing aid to victims of floods, including finding people who lost their lives and responding to calls for assistance. They emphasize the need for quick action to prevent future disaster events and emphasize the importance of providing aid to affected people. The company's disaster management network is designed to provide feedback and assistance, and is experiencing increased demand for food delivery. The network is also experiencing increased demand for rural relief, and there is a need for more rural areas to provide relief for those affected by floods. The speakers emphasize the importance of matching needs across all areas and providing relief to those affected by floods.

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			Well, let's continue here tonight.
Gift of the givers, the non
		
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			governmental organization has been
assisting in as far as providing
		
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			relief to the victims of the
floods. The foundation saying as
		
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			early as yesterday that it's been
inundated with calls from the
		
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			province requesting assistance.
Well, let's speak to the gift of
		
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			the givers. Dr Imtiaz Suleiman,
he, of course, is also the founder
		
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			of the organization. Dr Suleman,
you've had the opportunity to
		
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			actually get out and be on the
ground over the last 48 hours.
		
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			What would you say are the key
challenges that you've been able
		
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			to identify in as far as providing
relief measures to the situation.
		
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			Good evening, Kathy, too many
people need assistance too
		
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			quickly. That's a big challenge.
Everybody is stressed out that you
		
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			know, the one point we need to
remember is everybody is seeing
		
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			the big infrastructure damage, the
highways, the electrical
		
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			electrical substations, the
buildings have fallen down. But
		
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			the one part is not palpable, is
the part of the emotions. People
		
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			have been severely traumatized,
those who have lost lives, those
		
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			are sitting near a stream, and a
stream becomes a river within
		
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			minutes, and trying to catch a
child or a family person being
		
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			washed away, watching all your
life's positions being washed
		
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			away, washed away. So trauma has
been an emotional and trauma has
		
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			been a huge issue in this
		
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			disaster. And then, of course, in
that kind of situation, when
		
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			people lose everything they're
looking for hope, and when you
		
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			start coming on and the world
starts failing that your team's on
		
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			site, you start getting calls from
everywhere. Everybody wants
		
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			something. And people say, You
know what? People, this one has
		
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			lost his house completely, is
stranded. They don't know what to
		
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			go these ones have lost all day
informal settlement checks
		
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			completely. So it's a number of
calls like that. People want
		
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			assistance. They just desperate.
There's desperation everywhere. So
		
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			that's the first challenge, that
the number of people that one
		
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			assistance is a huge number, but
not only in one area, they all
		
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			spread out across many, many
areas, and within such locality,
		
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			there's so many different sections
within that locality. The second
		
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			big challenge is that the roads
are very difficult to pass through
		
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			yesterday. It's much better today,
but still, there's debris
		
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			everywhere at night, you got to be
very careful. You can drive into a
		
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			rock, into a sand mold, so you
have to be very careful how you
		
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			drive, and that becomes another
issue. You can't get into areas
		
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			very quickly. The third challenge
is you can't take your big trucks.
		
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			The big trucks can get stuck, so
you got to take smaller trucks,
		
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			sometimes pour them into buckets.
So everything now takes much
		
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			longer to deliver, and people are
waiting. They want stuff faster.
		
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			And then the other challenges,
sometimes the networks are not
		
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			working, so you can't get contact
with your people. We haven't had
		
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			much of that form, but at times,
you know, suddenly we just can't
		
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			get through to our people and your
phone number 10 times before it
		
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			gets through. So those are the
major challenges, and then you
		
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			have to respond, of course, what
do you do with so many people
		
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			who've lost their homes? They go
into community halls, but
		
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			everybody wants to get back as
soon as possible. And that's the
		
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			next phase where it has decided
whether they're going back to the
		
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			same land, which low lying and
flood plains, or are they going to
		
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			be given land somewhere else,
which is on the higher plane, but
		
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			not like 10 kilometers away from
where they are where they are
		
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			right now, in many ways, the scale
of this disaster, in and of
		
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			itself, is unprecedented, and so
when we talk about providing help
		
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			to the number of people that need
it in the multiple areas where
		
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			they are right now, where do you
even begin in terms of identifying
		
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			which areas you reach first and
again. This is bearing in mind
		
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			that over the weekend, more rain
is expected, and I wonder how much
		
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			of a window period that then this
moment becomes
		
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			you have to act fast. You know
that's that's the thing. You have
		
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			to act fast, but you have to
remember certain principles we
		
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			don't want to duplicate. You don't
act you know. You want to make
		
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			sure that the right people get
assistance in the right place as
		
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			soon as possible. Our advantage is
we're not setting this thing up
		
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			like 48 hours ago. We're doing
this for 30 years. We've done the
		
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			sad that the cycloid died and the
floods that we had in April 2019
		
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			and those networks are still
there. Then we had a similar
		
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			unrest in July of last year. We
use the same networks. And our
		
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			period of time, we distributed
food to people. So it's we have
		
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			those networks so people will call
you from different areas because
		
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			of that kind of network, we could
get feedback and physically visit
		
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			sites from Hillcrest, Megan, Hill
finetown, Claremont, new Germany,
		
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			featherham, tongat, Phoenix, parts
of Chechen, mirbank, isapingo,
		
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			Kingsway comes into Port Chester
and to the management, because and
		
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			in all those areas. And we could
see from the feedback, okay, what?
		
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			To look at more. And then, in
addition to that, because our
		
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			relationship what municipalities
are disaster management, he take
		
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			many municipalities said, look,
they need 500 families. They need
		
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			support. And these are the areas.
They give us the list. And when
		
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			you go to certain area, they tell
us, no, it don't go anymore. It's
		
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			changed. The number of people is
now increased from what we told
		
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			you yesterday. You won't have
enough stuff. And that big cause
		
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			of conflict let's change, move to
another direction. So working with
		
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			getting them, getting their
feedback, we getting our feedback,
		
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			we can get to the areas. And
there's always a spiritual element
		
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			to what we do. You know, there's
always, it's always had, you know,
		
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			there's something people may not
understand, but we always show
		
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			pointed to the right direction.
Actually, the first call came at
		
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			5am yesterday morning, and the
person who calls and says, you
		
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			know, you were here last week and
you gave us some food parcels in
		
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			our area that was in Tonga from
Ingo heights, and he said, you
		
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			know, the one of the ladies that
was in the queue, she got caught
		
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			up in the car with three
grandchildren and got washed away.
		
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			And they said, Please come here.
So our teams, when, when they
		
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			first to Tonga, they, of course,
still remember the lady, because
		
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			we can't remember everybody. We
see the queue and but at that
		
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			point, the lady was recovered and
told the children, and then they
		
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			knew it was the same area that we
just delivered on the fourth of
		
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			April, and the same houses that
we've been to. Those people are
		
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			mostly pensioners. They all. They
were in shock. The water was one
		
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			liter high in their flats at very
short notice, and they had to be
		
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			evacuated. And these are the kind
of stories that you pick up from
		
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			everywhere. And then some years,
of course, but we need to have a
		
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			spring roll. There's so much of
meat in this area. So as a course
		
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			coming, you try to go within a
straight line Tonga rather than
		
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			Phoenix, come towards Durban
tomorrow. Along the line you treat
		
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			KWA Mashu when you come to Easter
penguin site, you do in Abu
		
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			asmaazi, so you catch other
different areas, and you send
		
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			different teams, and you have
other people are calling you have
		
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			worked with before, and you know
they reliable. They're credible.
		
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			Otherwise, there's no point taking
the call. It's people you've
		
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			worked with before. They've never
let you down. They're accurate
		
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			with the information, and they
have their own networks, or their
		
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			own volunteers who can help you
spear up the process. So that's
		
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			the way we operate. But we can't
get to all the areas at the same
		
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			time, and once we bring this
another challenge came the water
		
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			is a problem in Dublin right now,
the purification plants are not
		
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			working, so you now have the added
challenge of giving water to even
		
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			those people are not caught up in
the floods because there's no
		
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			water to buy.
		
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			Sure it's going to be a tough
couple of days. Dr Suleman, as we
		
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			head into the Easter weekend, he
is the founder of gift of
		
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			forgiveness, and undoubtedly,
you'll be hearing a lot more from
		
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			him about the operations that
they're currently involved with
		
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			in, as far as assisting and
providing relief for those who
		
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			need it most. In case it in right
now so.