More than four million Rufiyaa collected by Pakistan Relief Fund finally sent

Financial aid amounting to 4.5 million Rufiyaa collected by Maldivian NGOs in a special program to help Pakistan last year has finally been sent to Qatar Red Crescent. Qatar Red Crescent is set to hand over the money to victims of flood that created havoc in Pakistan last year, and left 2000 dead and nearly 20 million people homeless.

The money was collected from donations by NGOs in the Maldives last year, immediately after the catastrophe faced by Pakistan in order to help victims of the disaster. Money was deposited in a fund called the PK Relief Fund, however the money has not been sent, according to a source from the PK Relief Fund Team, due to unavailability of US Dollars. “The money was collected in Maldivian Rufiyaa, and had to be sent in US Dollars, obviously. However, due to the current shortage of Dollars in the country, we have faced real challenges in converting the collected funds to Dollars”, he said.

The funds have been finally sent to the victims with the help of Maldives Islamic Bank. The Islamic Bank provided US Dollars for MRF 74,000, the remaining funds in Rufiyaa, and has also deposited the money in the account of Qatar Red Crescent.

According to information given by a PK Relief Fund Team member, an amount of US Dollar 291,456.62 was deposited with the Qatar Red Crescent and the funds would be used to build homes for some of the people whose homes were destroyed by the flood. “The money would be used to build homes, and they (Qatar Red Crescent) would provide us with the details of how the money is spent”, he said.