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Updated Flood Report - Upington |
The arrival of the various Gift of the Givers teams in Upington, led by Allauddin Sayed, began early on the 08 February 2011with the Cape Town team arriving at 16h30, Johannesburg team at 18h00 and the Durban team arriving at 04h00 on the 09 February 2011 respectively.
On the 09 February 2011, Gift of the Givers teams, together with SAPS, SANDF, Social Services disaster management, SASA, SA Council of Churches & the local municipality went out to assess all areas, especially those needing urgent attention. This took the teams about 3-4 hours to complete.
Following the assessments, distribution commenced on 10 February 2011 at 10h30, supported by Col. Steenkamp from SAPS and Col. Esterbed from SANDF, in the following areas; Keimoes, Lennertsville, Skanskop, Eiland, Bloemsmond informal settlement, George Eiland, Farms Iskand, Bella Vista, Bradville, Under George & Rooikop Eiland. All the assistance to the 167 families in these areas was carried out by helicopter. Food Parcels, Household Goods, Hygiene Packs, Nappies & Clothing were distributed. In addition, the local church organised a group of flood stricken victims to collect food parcels from its premises. Also, Social Services assisted Gift of the Givers by visiting the Old Age homes and Orphanages in the areas and handed out items such as nappies and other parcels. Gift of the Givers also supplied vegetables for the vegetable stew to be served to 400 people at the hostel. We were thankful to Col. Esterbed from SANDF and Col. Steenkamp from SAPS, in charge of disaster management and the call centre, who safely escorted and coordinated the teams across bridges and roads that were washed away.
On 11 February 2011, from 11h00 onwards, the helicopter will be transporting Teams and supplies to flood stricken victims in the following areas; Lanklaas with 26 isolated families , Eksteen Island with 14 isolated families & George Island with 10 isolated families. Later on this afternoon, a long helicopter flight to Kakamas to benefit 112 families will be undertaken. Tonight the Paballelo Congregational Church will be assisting Gift of the Givers in distributing 50 food parcels and will host a wellness function for the community, where Gift of the Givers team members will participate. Building bridges across race, culture and religion is what we do best.
Tomorrow, 12 February 2011, is going to be the largest distribution in the area. Gift of the Givers will be assisting 480 families with food parcels to the value of R700.00. In the course of our distribution we came across many families who received aid for the first time. It's obvious that the extent of the Orange River flood is huge.
Details Allauddin Sayed 083 667 7179
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