List of Organization working in Pakistan flood affected areas

awahid, life, photography, politics 16 Comments »

pakistan-flood-disaster-victims

Severe flood in Pakistan affected 20 Million people and the numbers are growing day by day. They need clean water, sanitary food, housing and medical care. The following organization are working in the affected areas, please donate as much as you can to support their efforts.

 

 

Pakistani Organizations and Charities Seeking Flood Relief Donations

Edhi Foundation

Edhi Foundation is the trusted and award-winning relief and volunteer works organization of Pakistan, which is also active internationally. Edhi Foundation has one of the largest private ambulance service networks in the world. The Foundation provided invaluable services during the earthquake in 2005 and is currently involved in flood relief work in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Pakistan Red Crescent Society

Pakistan Red Crescent Society is a reputable non-governmental humanitarian organization with a mission to provide relief to communities in distress without discrimination of nationality, race, religious belief, class, or political opinion. The Society provides relief during and after crises as well as auxiliary health and welfare services.

Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN)

The Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN) is the largest national, non-government network of rural development programs in Pakistan, called Rural Support Programmes or RSPs. Their mission is to mobilize rural communities on a self help basis to undertake activities in areas of relief and rehabilitation, community built infrastructure, community financing (micro credit and health insurance), building employable skills, agriculture, livestock, small enterprise and other sectors.

Give A Home

A relief project initiated by leading community organizers in Pakistan. After the successful project of supporting the earthquake victims in 2008, they now intend to move on to a bigger and a much needed task – shelter building for flood affected families in Baluchistan and Sindh.

Maymar Trust

To donate a ( 10 x 10) tent for a family: Rs. 12,000

A huge tent ( 14 x 14) for a few families: Rs. 5,000

A tent for a mosque ( 30 x 30) : Rs. 30,000

Gas Cylinder: Rs. 900

Generator: Rs. 80,000

Food: 8,000/-for one month

Medical Supplies: Rs.20 to 25,000/- ( for one day )

Beds and bedding: 300 per bed

Plastic Tirpal ( shade)( 4 x6) : Rs.900/-

Donate here:

Account Title: Muhammad Faisal

A/c No: 011802008000265

Meezan Bank/ Gulshan-e-Maymar, Karachi.

Or

A/C Title: Tariq Manzoor

0118994011000621

Muslim Commercial Bank

Branch Code: 1555

International Organizations and Charities Seeking Flood Relief Donations

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

UNHCR is an agency of the United Nations that provides basic care and necessities like shelter, water and emergency supplies for internally and internationally displaced persons.

Oxfam

Oxfam International is a confederation of 14 organisations working with over 3,000 partners in around 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice. Oxfam has responded to the flood emergency in Pakistan and is currently delivering clean water to almost 100,000 people. In total, Oxfam aims to reach around 600,000 people with clean water, sanitation kits and hygiene supplies, and is planning to distribute cooked food as well as running cash-for-work programmes.

International Medical Corps

International Medical Corps is a humanitarian, nonsectarian, global organization of volunteer doctors and nurses dedicated to saving lives and providing relief through healthcare training and development programs.

International Rescue Committee

The International Rescue Committee founded at the request of Albert Einstein to respond to the humanitarian crises anywhere in the world, and save and rehabilitate victims of war or disaster.

Save the Children

Save the Children is a leading organization dedicated to ensuring the physical and emotional well being of children internationally, with programs focused on enabling safety, education, health and nourishment for vulnerable children.

Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is an umbrella organisation which represents 13 leading UK aid agencies. Its members are: ActionAid, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE International UK, Christian Aid, Concern, Help the Aged, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision. DEC is broadcasting a series of TV and radio appeals in Britain asking for donations after the severe floods in Pakistan.

Islamic Relief USA

Islamic Relief is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working to around the world to alleviate poverty, suffering, hunger and illiteracy, irrespective of color, race or creed, by collaborating and cooperating with local organizations to maintain cultural sensitivity to customs and traditions of the regions they serve. Islamic Relief USA is also involved in relief work in Haiti.

Muslim Hands

Muslim Hands is a UK-registered charity working internationally in over forty countries worldwide to help those affected by natural disasters, conflict and poverty. Muslim Hands is a signatory to the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

Abaseen Foundation

The Abaseen Foundation is a UK-based humanitarian organization working to develop healthcare, education and provide humanitarian relief in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (former North West Frontier Province).

Helping Hand

Helping Hand for Relief And Development is a global humanitarian relief and development organization responding to human sufferings in emergency and disastrous situations anywhere all over the world regardless race, gender, ethnicity, class, location, religion, color, cultural diversity and social background; with special focus in countries where the massive population living below the poverty line like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Kenya, Sudan and many others.

World Vision Canada

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender.

Trócaire

Trócaire is the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Trócaire adopts a partnership approach and works through global Catholic networks and with local partners on the ground.

[source: http://www.ourdesiworld.com/component/content/article/56-list-of-flood-relief-organizations ]

Severe Flood in Pakistan – Pictures

awahid, life, photography 3 Comments »

A boy hangs on to the front of a cargo truck while passing through a flooded road in Risalpur, located in Nowshera District in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province July 30, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)

Men take refuge on a boat during heavy rain in Pakistan’s Nowshera District on July 29, 2010. (REUTERS/K. Parvez)

Residents watch water pour through a street on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan on July 28, 2010. (A Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistani villagers move to high ground escaping a flood-hit village near Nowshera, Pakistan on Thursday, July 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

Nimra, a three-year-old girl, who was rescued along with her family from Kaalam in the northern area, kisses the window glass of an army helicopter after their arrival at Khuazakhela in Swat district located in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province on August 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood)

Residents watch from a nearby hill as army helicopters rescued trapped residents from Nowshera, Pakistan on July 31, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)

Residents stand by flood water that entered a residential area of Muzaffarabad, Pakistan on July 30, 2010. (SAJJAD QAYYUM/AFP/Getty Images)

An aerial view of a man and his animals surrounded by floodwater in Taunsa near Multan, Pakistan, flooded on Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)

A Pakistani villager struggles to reach his village through a fast-moving flood water caused by heavy monsoon rain in Bakhtiarabad, 250 km (155 mi) north of Quetta, Pakistan on Friday, July 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Fida Hussain)

An aerial view shows Nowshera city submerged in flooding caused by heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan on Friday, July 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

A Pakistani volunteer uses a small boat to evacuate locals in a flood-hit area of Nowshera on July 30, 2010. (A. MAJEED/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistani flood survivors cross a bridge near a damaged home in Medain, a town of Swat valley on August 2, 2010. (A Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistan army soldiers pass a baby across a channel in the floodwater as they help people flee from their flooded village following heavy monsoon rains in Taunsa, Pakistan on Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)

Villagers try to catch trees floating in the flooded Nelum river in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir on Friday, July 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Aftab Ahmed)

Residents help a man untie a chicken from his neck after he evacuated his flooded home with the fowl by swimming to higher grounds in Nowshera, Pakistan on August 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)

A family being rescued by army soldiers passes a cargo truck with men on top taking shelter from heavy floods in Nowshera, Pakistan on July 31, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)

A soldier evacuating residents carries a flood victim to a helicopter in Sanawa, Pakistan’s on August 5, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer)

A Pakistani boy named Jeeshan stands outside his tent in a camp set up by the Pakistani army inside a college on the outskirts of Nowshera on August 2, 2010. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistani flood survivors line up beside a damaged bridge in Medain, a town of Swat Valley on August 2, 2010. (A Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)

A boy is flung back by the force of a Pakistan Air Force helicopter rotors as it drops water supplies to residents on August 2, 2010 in Nowshera, Pakistan. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Evacuees wade through a flooded area following heavy monsoon rains in Peshawar on Saturday, July 31, 2010. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Saeed Ahmad)

People wait to cross a flooded road in Bannu, northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Ijaz Mohammad)

A boy walks through flood destroyed homes on August 4, 2010 in Pabbi, near Nowshera, Pakistan. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

A family portrait is seen, attached to a bookcase buried in mud on August 4, 2010 in Pabbi, Pakistan. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

An aerial view of floodwater covering the land as far as the eye can see, around Taunsa near Multan, Pakistan, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)

A flood survivor carries a soaked mat in a flooded area of Nowshera on August 3, 2010. (A Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)

A man gathers up some of his belongings outside his flooded house in Nowshera, Pakistan on August 2, 2010. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistani women pray at sunset by the Ravi river in Lahore on August 2, 2010. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)

A boy sits on a bed as his family members salvage belongings from their destroyed house in Pabbi, Pakistan on August 5, 2010. (REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood)

Flood victims line up to collect relief supplies from the Army in Nowshera, Pakistan on August 2, 2010. Islamist charities, some with suspected ties to militants, stepped in on Monday to provide aid for Pakistanis hit by the worst flooding in memory, piling pressure on a government criticized for its response to the disaster that has so far killed more than 1,000 people. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)

Flood-affected people jostle for food relief in Nowshera in northwest Pakistan on Friday, Aug. 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

A Pakistani worker pushes back flood-stricken women who are trying to enter a relief center to get food supplies on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

Families set in for the evening in their makeshift tent homes located on a median strip after having abandoned their flood-destroyed homes, on August 3, 2010 in Pabi, Pakistan. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Children, whose families have declined to be rescued, wade in rising flood waters on August 6, 2010 in the village of Panu Akil, near Sukkur, Pakistan. Rescue workers and armed forces continued rescue operations evacuating thousands in Pakistan’s heartland province of Sindh. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Residents evacuate to safety in a flood-hit area of Nowshera, Pakistan on July 30, 2010. (A. MAJEED/AFP/Getty Images)

Onlookers perched on a damaged bridge watch a flood survivor use a rope to cross the river in Chakdara in Pakistan’s Swat Valley on August 3, 2010. (STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)

A young flood survivor cools herself with water at a makeshift camp in Nowshera, Pakistan on August 5, 2010. (FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP/Getty Images)

A man tries to cross a makeshift bridge to escape his flooded home in Nowshera, Pakistan on July 31, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)

A Pakistan army helicopter evacuates stranded villagers in Nowshera, Pakistan on Friday, July 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

A family takes refuge on top of a mosque while awaiting rescue from flood waters in Sanawa, a town located in the Muzaffar Ghar district of Pakistan’s Punjab province on August 5, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer)

A woman yells as her child is evacuated from the roof of a mosque where residents were taking refuge from flood waters in Sanawa, Pakistan on August 5, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer)

My first small planet shaped circle

awahid, life, photography 2 Comments »

esn_planetI had never created 360 panorama or small planets before. I had previously read various articles and seen very interesting photos as well. I was very excited to make something like it, but never got a chance to make it.

On my trip to Blagoevgrad and Rila Monastery Trip with ESN people I found a very interesting place. There was non-functional spring in the middle of the steps and they were forming a perfect circle. At that point I thought how about a group photo by making small planet shaped circle. So I calculated number of people and walked around the circle. I gathered people and asked them to hold their hands around the circle and stay still. I went to middle of the circle and after I was satisfied with the formation, I adjusted the focus of my camera[in auto focus mode] and switched to manual focus. It is very important to have the same settings[aperture, shutter etc] for all your shots. I could have taken the 6 or 8 shots but I was not using the tripod so for better alignment I took 10 shots covering everyone.
When I came back I stated stitching the photos using Photoshop. I used photo merge option of adobe and selected “perspective” in “Layout”.  I loaded 10 photos and they had very high resolution and the result was the picture having size of 28.2 MB. I purpose that you should reduce the size and then continue otherwise adobe might crash and you might lose your data [or you should save psd formats side by side without reducing the size].

esn_raw

The photomerge option resulted in Raw Panorama of the shots and each photo was in Layers. As I had told you I did not used the tripod and few people were not aligned perfectly. Thats why I had to carefully align the picture manually. Also I wanted to make small planet shaped circle so I had to be careful with the ends of the picture.
After I was satisfied with the stitching I applied “Polar Coordinates” filter [Filter->distort->polar coordinates]. My first small planet was ready … but what the … The ends were not perfect[it needed extra adobe photoshop magic...].  I had to do some basic adobe photoshop in order to remove the deficiency. [Always use tripod or try to learn advance adobe photoshop].

esn_first_low

The resulted picture as you see is not very satisfying… I tried various adobe photo shop techniques to squeeze the people and make it perfect but it was taking too much effort. Now I search for some tutorials and wanted to look others similar pictures. After reading some stuff I realized I was doing the same thing but if I add some empty space at the lower part of the picture, the inner circle will be more wider and people will look better.

esn_raw_2nd

I had already saved the straight Panorama so I increased the height of that image and applied the filter. This time the result was much better. But I did not kinda liked the inner white circle, so I thought how about stretching the grass[lower part of the image] and this increased the height of the image as well. After doing that I applied the polar coordinate filter and the end result was the following picture.

esn_planet
I learned a lot from my first experience and next time I will do better than that.  Try increasing the height upto the width and see you will have better results. I am open for suggestion and comments, do let me know what you think.

[You can find very good resources  here here and here]

The 5 Best Waterproof Compact Cameras

Technology, awahid, life, photography 4 Comments »

I was searching for waterproof camera and found a very interesting article. Ofcourse If you are using SLR then I would recommend the waterproof kit[kind of plastic bag] for you. If you like photography and like to buy new waterproof camera then you must check out this comparison. [source:http://www.popphoto.com/Features/The-5-Best-Waterproof-Compact-Cameras]

1. Canon PowerShot D10
$330 street, 12.1MP; 3X optical zoom; waterproof to 33 feet
Canon’s first foray into waterproof digital compacts looks like a cross between a Digital ELPH and a diving bell. With a waterproof rating down to 33 feet, it’s among the deepest divers in this category, but its 2.5-inch LCD and optically stabilized 35–105mm (equivalent) f/2.8–4.9 zoom lens aren’t at the front of this pack. Like the other cameras here, the D10 is freeze- and shockproof, in this case surviving temperatures down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit and falls of up to 4 feet.
www.powershot.com

2. Fujifilm Finepix Z33WP
$200 street, 10MP; 3X optical zoom; waterproof to 10 feet
Borrowing design cues from Fuji’s teen-targeted Z30, this underwater shooter is one of the tiniest and most stylish, as well as the most affordable. Its 2.7-inch LCD is as large as they come on this type of compact. But it’s waterproof only to 10 feet, and its 10MP and 35–105mm (equivalent) f/3.7–4.2 optical zoom aren’t groundbreaking.
www.fujifilmusa.com

3. Olympus Stylus Tough 8000
$400 street, 12MP; 3.6X optical zoom; waterproof to 33 feet
Olympus offers some of the most rugged compact cameras you can get, and its latest fits the mold. You can shoot down to 33 feet underwater, drop the camera from up to 6.6 feet, and use it in temperatures down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Plus, its metal construction can withstand up to 220 pounds of pressure. Sensorshift image stabilization combats hand shake, and the zoom, while not league-leading, spans an equivalent 28–102mm f/3.5–5.1.
www.stylustough.com

4. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1
$400 street, 12.1MP; 4.6X optical zoom; waterproof to 10 feet
Panasonic has stepped up to the pool in a strong way with its first waterproof digital camera. Its optically stabilized 28–128mm (equivalent) f/3.3–5.9 zoom offers a nice balance of wide angle for underwater and midrange tele for land-based adventures. At 12.1MP, it affords plenty of resolution, and it has an ample 2.7-inch LCD. While we wish it could go deeper than 10 feet, its 720p video recording should make playing in the backyard pool more fun than ever.
www.panasonic.com

5. Pentax Optio W60
$250 street, 10MP; 5X optical zoom; waterproof to 13 feet
Pentax was one of the first to offer dunkable digital cameras with its WP series years ago, and now it’s a major force. This model has plenty of room to the left of the lens to hold onto, and we like the 720p video recording, though we’d rather have a faster rate than its 15 frames per second. Its Super Macro mode should be a boon below the surface, letting you focus as close as 0.4 inches from the front of the 28–140mm (equivalent) f/3.5–5.5 lens.
www.pentaximaging.com

Perfect for Royat-e-Hilal Committee Pakistan

Technology, awahid, life, photography No Comments »

IMG_6354

Royat-e-Halal committee ka masla hal kernay… Agiya Agiya Perfect telescope :)
A girl near Fantastico(Sofia, Bulgaria) is making money by showing moon and Jupiter from her telescope…
Two leva for sighting moon… Although I gave her One leva :) and one leva was compensated by taking her picture…

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