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Qatar Airlines staff in fund raising drive

by D. A. Wijewardena

Qatar Airline staff have raised funds to rebuild 25 houses for the tsunami affected fishing village of Jambuwatte in Balapitiya. "We are also planning to rebuild another 75 houses before the end of this year", said Qatar Airline Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker at a media conference on the "rebuilding project of houses affected by the tsunami disaster" at Hotel Hilton on Tuesday.

Al Baker said that Sri Lanka was the only tsunami hit country which had been earmarked at present for such donations to construct around 100 houses as the Jambuwatte area in Balapitiya was one of the worst hit areas due to the tsunami. He said that the staff of the Doha-based Qatar Airlines employed about 400 Sri Lankan nationals who initiated a fund-raising drive towards the reconstruction of 25 houses in Balapitiya.

Referring to the role played by Qatar Airlines on humanitarian activities, Al Baker said that Qatar Airlines had worked closely with Habitat International, a non-governmental organisation that had assisted in building houses for the homeless - to identify one affected site and help the local community get back on its feet.

Qatar Airlines, on humanitarian grounds, had come forward to restore the devastated Jambuwatte area where a large number of the fishing community lost their lives and entire fishing gear. Fishing was their main source of income.

Qatar Airline Senior Manager Marketing and Communication Salam Al Shawa said that the camaraderie shown by the people of Sri Lanka to get back to work and restart their lives had impressed the international community as most villagers living on the coastline had been desperate to move back to their own houses on their own plot of land as soon as possible.

He said one could really comprehend the magnitude of such a tragedy which we saw on television screens.

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