Aid Offered by Muslim’s Around the World for Katrina Victims

Sheila Musaji

Posted Sep 6, 2005      •Permalink      • Printer-Friendly Version
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This will be updated as new information comes in.  If you have information about local efforts, please leave a comment to inform us about the effort.

Offers of help and donations for Hurricane Katrina relief are pouring in from around the world.

Kuwait - $500 million; Saudi Refining Inc. - $5 million; Saudi Arabia - $255 million;  United Arab Emirates - $100 million; Qatar - $100 million; Iran has offered 20 million barrels of crude oil; United Arab Emirates is sending aid; Bangladesh - $1 million; Pakistan - doctors and other aid. Libya $100 million, Egypt $30 million, Algeria $30 million, Tunisia $10 million, Jordan $5 million, Suyria $5 million, Morocco $5 million, Bahrain $5 million, Lebanon $2 million, Pakistan $1 million, Azerbaijan $500,000 - http://www.muslimsweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=700&Itemid=63

Even the most impoverished countries and those still recovering from the Tsunami have offered aid:  Bangladesh - $1 million; Afghanistan - $100,000; Indonesia has offered to send 40 doctors

Iran’s Red Crescent Society is ready to dispatch relief workers whenever their help is accepted;

The U.S. has thanked dozens of foreign countries for their offers of aid, but has not accepted many offers such as Cuba’s offer to send 1,100 doctors with medical supplies, and bloggers are reporting that some offered aid is not being accepted and may even be rejected. 

In the U.S. many Islamic Centers and mosques and other groups are now collecting funds and soliciting other aid:
- Turkish Business Group;
- the The Muslim Comedy Tour is donating the proceeds from a performance in Texas;
- U.S. Muslims have pledged $10 million in relief through the Muslim Hurricane Relief Task Force(MHRT) which has been formed to collect donations for Katrina victims. 
- Hundreds of Muslims are training with members of other faiths to help in Houston. 
- The Muslim American Society has already donated $1 million to be distributed through the Interfaith Healing Hands Foundation.
- 1,200 Muslims have volunteered to feed evacuees at the George Brown Convention Center in Houston in four shifts on 9/11. 
- The Islamic Center of Tampa raised $50,000 for the Red Cross. 
- The Islamic Center of Milwaukee has dispatched a team of volunteers, including physicians. The mosque collected $30,000 during Friday prayers and plans to contribute $25,000 worth of medical supplies.
- The Islamic Center of Cincinnati is a donation collection site.
- The Islamic Center of Des Plaines, IL collected $2,000 for the Red Cross.
- Friday (Sept. 2nd) was “Hurricane Relief Day” at mosques around the country. At the Islamic Center of Irving, TX, an 18-wheeler truck was set up in the parking lot to collect donations for hurricane victims. The same group that led a tsunami relief effort in Sri Lanka — Baitulmal — is helping this effort by gathering and distributing millions of dollars in aid.
- The Organization of North American Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslim Communities is collecting donations.
- The Islamic Center of Central Louisiana is operating as a Red Cross designated shelter.
- Islamic Relief has pledged $2 million,  and other Muslim charities are collecting money for relief efforts; and Muslim organizations are appealing for generous donations.
- Local mosues in Miami are working along with other organizations to collect food and donations.
- The Muslim Youth Center of Bridgeview, IL will collect non-perishable food for the needy. The center’s food pantry has been emptied due to demand for hurricane victims.  A fund set up by the Mosque Foundation during prayer services has so far collected $57,000 for victims of Katrina. The funds will be distributed through the Red Cross and Islamic relief organizations.
- Muslims in Arlington, TX loaded $7,000 in water on a truck and delivered it to hurricane victims
- Islamic Relief has allocated $2 million for hurricane relief.
- Islamic Foundation of St. Louis raised $40,000 at a fund raising dinner, and the MSA at St. Louis University in conjunction with the Black Student Alliance, Asian Students in Action, Indian Asian Student Association, Cross Cultural Center, International Student Federation, and the Washington University MAS, hosted an Emergency Relief Dinner sponsored by Islamic Relief Worldwide and raised $25,000.


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Sheila Musaji is the Editor of The American Muslim at http://www.theamericanmuslim.org
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