Immigrant Families Mourn Losses, Fund Quake Relief Efforts

October 15, 2005

Source: Newsday

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/newyork/politics/nyc-pak1015,0,2689587.story

On October 15, 2005 Newsday reported, "From the old Pakistani enclaves of Brooklyn to the spanking new mosques of Bay Shore, Muslims gathered Friday to mourn, to pray and to collect money.

'Everyone is very, very shaken up,' said Dr. Hafizur Rehman, a pediatrician from Bay Shore whose family comes from the earthquake-devastated region near Islamabad. 'Nearly everyone here has family or friends who perished in the quake. Nearly everyone is participating in the relief effort.'

Rehman, like a half dozen local doctors, has signed on with medical teams going to Kashmir to tend the injured through the Islamic Medical Association of North America. Other groups are collecting medical supplies, while virtually every mosque in New York is collecting money, blankets and clothing.

But many fear that their efforts will not be enough to stave off thousands of additional deaths among homeless survivors.

'The size of this disaster is beyond comprehension,' Pakistani Consul General Haroon Shaukat said Friday at a news conference with local Pakistani leaders to underscore the scope of the disaster."