33 tons of warm clothing collected by ILO personnel for Pakistan quake victims

GENEVA (ILO News) - Thirty-three tons of warm clothes collected locally under an initiative launched by a group of staff of the International Labour Office left the ILO building today bound for Pakistan quake victims.

The clothing will be delivered to the quake areas by army helicopters in Pakistan, while colleagues at the ILO office in Islamabad and the Pakistani Office for Humanitarian Assistance will ensure distribution to those most in need.

The ILO staff launched the initiative after seeing images of bare-footed children wandering in the snow four months after the earthquake. Other international agencies, the local population, schools and department stores joined in the initiative. Hundreds of cartons with shoes, anoraks and blankets were packed by volunteers within less than 48 hours last week.

"The success of this collection which was meant to be a modest contribution to help Pakistanis suffering from the extreme winter in the Himalayas went far beyond our expectations", said Zohreh Tabatabai, Director of the ILO Department of Communication which initiated the collection.

Because of the large volume of clothes collected, they could not be transported on a commercial flight as originally foreseen. Mr. Walter Fust, Director-General of the Swiss Development and Technical Cooperation Agency (CDRI) immediately arranged for the clothes to be transported to Islamabad via Karachi. The clothes will arrive this Sunday.

For further information, please contact the ILO Department of Communication at tel. +4122/799-6298.