The Mowatana association for helping Jeddah flood victims is calling for more volunteers to help in completing the last two stages of its Jeddah flood recovery program. After spending three months in helping victims of the flood disaster that hit the city on Nov. 25, the Mowatana association now faces a shortage of volunteers to help it complete the third and fourth stages of its program to repair flood-damaged houses. Dr. Yahiya Massawi, head of the Mowatana society, said that the association's campaign is divided into four stages. “We have finished the first two stages which involved collecting, preparing, packing and distributing food and clothing to victims of the floods, and then cleaning flood-damaged homes,” he said. “Now we are preparing to start the third stage which involves work on the foundation of houses and the installation of electrical equipment (refrigerators, air-conditioners and ovens) in 150 to 450 houses,” Massawi said. He added that the association was prepared to begin work as soon as there were enough volunteers. “We only have 21 volunteers out of the 30 that we need. Once we start, we can finish the job in three or four days by working from 3 P.M. to 10 P.M. daily,” Massawi said. The Mowatana association, utilizing its human resources, organizational capability and experience in dealing with emergencies, was one of the first to help victims of the flood just a few days after the disaster struck certain districts in Jeddah. The fourth stage of the association's flood recovery program, which is to turn over clean, fully repaired, well-equipped houses to flood victims, has in some cases encountered difficulty. “The fourth stage of our program has been complicated by the fact that many families have been forced to return to their flood-damaged houses before repair work has been completed because they cannot afford to live elsewhere,” Massawi said.
