A little disorientated. Everything has happened so fast. Woke up this morning in Sungi head office, Abbotabad (or ‘Eptabad’ as they say here). Sungi is the leading NGO working in the quake affected area with a large network of field offices in Mansehra, Muzaffarabad, Balakot and Battagram. Each area is currently spearheading each district working in partnership with Oxfam GB.

After meeting a few other volunteers and organizing all the food into ‘familypacks,’ I left for Muzaffarabad with nine others bound finally for the field. Abbotabad seemed more organized than Islamabad office. They’d initially had large maps on the wall with pinned updates of where field teams were located.

The journey to Muzaffarabad was over in two hours. Dropped off five volunteers in Mansehra who were to be based from that office. Muzaffarabad office is located off to the side of the main city. The city has suffered greatly from the earthquake with perhaps 90% of the buildings uninhabitable. Sungi’s office is not so bad. Running water, internet connection, frequent electricity has yet to be established. The city itself superficially may seem untouched by the earthquake in parts, yet when you look closer most uildings will need rebuilding. But the cities are not where the major long term problems lie.

At a 2pm review meeting, we listened to the latest field updates. Realities from the field are harsh. Shelter is the number one priority without any doubt. Women are having trouble carrying loads away from drop points due to the weight of 85kg tents. Disparity of information between NGOs is common and their seems to at least be a genuine drive from this organization to avoid duplication. Demands are flooding in for tents and shelter as Winter draws in. You might think this some far away fantasy. I did. But the reality is people are going to die by the tens of thousands as I know they will not leave their homes. Would you?

Sungi is now focusing on three primary Union Councils; Gardi Duppata, Langar Pura and Bhatband.

It’s usally the case that the Pakistan Army provide tents to the rest oftheworld in the time of natural disasters. Now they are having a hard time securing sufficient tents to save themselves. Yet they do seem to be organizing relief on a mass scale.

At 3pm we set off in the truck for the villages of Hattian and Gardi Dupatta, just opened up for the first time since the quake hit nine days ago. Both villages were connected by a simple bridge along either side of the Jehlum river. People were everywhere. So was the devastation. Almost every house, without exception along the roadside, up the valley, down it, above the road and below it were completely collasped. Both villages had literally been wiped off the map. With hardly no out exception the roadside was like a carnival with ‘relief for reason’ donation giving by chaps with loaded trucks who were just throwing clothes off to waiting crowds below. People who have come to achieve self-satisfaction from giving in a time of need. Whilst commendable this sort of action is mindless in its effectiveness. It was a dash and grab scenario. It was a free for all jumble sale. People who lived in tiny makeshift shelters (often only from bedsheets stretched over sticks) lined the major existing roads to drag back whatever they could to the ‘lair’ like animals. People had donated all types of clothes from summer to Winter. Now I understand why Sungi and the JAC are crying out for shelter, blankets, sleeping bags and money.

As we arrived in Gardi Duppata people immediately flocked to myself, Humera (a journalist volunteer accompanying the team) and Begona (a spanish lady also volunteering). Nisar Ahmed was one. He stated that in Nawasi village 220 people of 2000 had been killed during the quake. The entire village had been flattened like the ones in which we were standing.

We carried on to see a village we had heard had never seen even one relief worker unbelievably two kilometers up a side road. A recently tarmaced one wide enough for two cars and with one major landslide only minutes before the village. A village with memories that will be forever branded to me. At the first house we came to we heard a cry forhelp. An old woman who lay in agony on her bed physcially crying. Her head lit harshly by our mobile phone light carried clearly open wounds below her eyes and ears. She had tremendous pain in her stomach and her leg was injured. After some talk we told her she would be alright. She asked where I was from. I replied England. A look of delayed pentup nine days relief wracked her as she burst into tears crying out to God, Thanks to Allah. We are saved.

We called in our doctor who was leading the team. She was his aunty. A coincidence before you think not. He was shocked. The telephone to the village was working and in fact the headman had spoken with the BBC only days earlier and we were still the first ones here. There were two other people in the immedieate vicinity who had broken their backs and both legs respectively. We couldn’t move them so we made an initial assessment and took the old lady who could partially walk back in the car with us.

At the Russian Medical camp in Muzaffarabad, she received emergency treatment. The Russians couldn’t keep her there. She may have damaged a kidney and had to be removed to a better hospital in Rawalpindi or Abbotabad.

Two hours later we had our plan of action. We visited the International Red Cross (Red Crescent) and established a partnership between their organization and Sungi. They will now be leading a team there tomorrow. It was an area already a high priority on their list. I will be heading back to Gardi Duppatta tomorrow morning with a team to lead a more detailed assessment on the actual needs of the people so that a better distrubtion plan can be carried out. Distribution will be carried out later. For now at least the injured will be taken care of.

There has been no delaying, no long debates, only acting and decision making. There are another 500 plus households spread 8 kms above Batian. Batian will be our hubpoint. We have a local activist in the village with a telephone number to co-ordinate with. Tomorrow Rosa begins again and we will be up at 0430 to take Seri before fast. The days start early and end late. The field work is more hands on and incredibily more emotional.

Education

Almost every school… Let me say that again. Almost every school in Muzaffarabad district has been destroyed with students and teachers inside them. Imagine that nightmare being true because it is. Azad Kashmir (or Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, as the international community terms it) has one of the highest literacy rates in the country. If there can be any reasurrance from this fiasco of nature, it is that at least some knowledge remains behind to replace them.

A local teacher is organizing a meeting tomorrow late morning to get kids back in school dispite the disaster. Life has to return to normal. Kids are turning to looting and stealing. Things education can prevent. My ride for education has been halted but not stopped. I will be at that meeting tomorrow. I will be seeing how the new needs of the schools can be fulfilled after the quake. Life for these people does not stop and neither does my mission. The needs of education in Pakistan have now just got even bigger. There has NEVER been a more important time to invest in this sector. Tents can be bought, an education cannot and locals are already realising this.

More tomorrow.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 18th, 2005 at 4:35 pm and is filed under China, Earthquake, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

If you enjoyed this article, consider subscribing to the Site Feed or to the Fortnightly Newsletter to keep up-to-date. There's also a quick way to post this story to a friend at the bottom of each entry.

Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS)