Ground Realities from Pakistan - from AOPP site

Here are some first hand stories from earthquake stricken areas....

These accounts were obtained from the AOPP (Association of Pakistani Professionals)

Click on dates for full accounts from:

October 20

Blog from Ground Zero by Mr. Abdurrahman (read at your own peril).

...We are back from Azad Kashmir. It was
a good trip -good in the sense that we came back with a feeling that a
difference is being made - no matter how small there is slight progress. I had
always wanted to see Neelam Valley and Kashmir quite appropriately dubbed a
piece of heaven on earth by the British. Unfortunately what I saw was the Death
Valley. The past one week my faith in just about everything has been tested to
its extreme..."

October 19

Letters from group working with the Omar Asghar Khan Foundation and SUNGI

"There has been a development since my last e-mail. The problems in the earthquake hit areas have exacerbated. It is raining and there are more mud slides and the after shocks are bringing more structures down. To deal with the immediate problem, and by this I mean for the winter, we (a small group of us working with the Omar Asghar Khan Foundation and SUNGI) have a plan to provide communities with shelter and food in an organized and systematic way. We are looking at setting up tent villages for those who have lost their homes. It will involve bringing people down from the mountains to
lower safer and more accessible areas and house them in one of these
units..."

October 17

Letter to AOPP member from German Social Worker who went to the earthquake site with Germen Red cross

"Dear Asif,

Let me begin by apologizing for this delayed reply as I was busy and have just returned
here back in Germany from Pakistan.

My experience of working with the people and Government of Pakistan is so far good. I am particularly impressed with the individuals and organizations in Pakistan. They have
demonstrated a great sense of maturity, unification and solidarity.

Just to give you one example, the Vice Chancellor, Faculty and
Students of Hamdard University in Karachi travelled immediately to Islamabad,
purchased food and other essential items and travelled up north to deliver. They
were also accompanied by the medical team from Hamdard Hospital and they
immediately established free medical camps and treated over 900 injured people
within the first week.

Similarly, the Government Doctors at PIMS Hospital Islamabad and many other doctors in the region worked round the clock to save lives.

As far as Germany is concerned, the initial response was good in terms of cash, goods, helicopters, expertise and so on. The German Foreign Minister has already written a letter to FM Kasuri and has requested to inform Germany ASAP as to what more could be done. Furthermore, Germany has setup Relief Fund for Pakistan and now there are adds in the local media requesting people to donate so that more money could be send to Pakistan to help the victims...."

Letter from Ayesha Hasan who is working tirelessly in Pakistan for the Earthquake victims

"The quake situation is really escalating out of control. Rape of unprotected women- men folk either dead or helping with the recovery/relief efforts. Kidnappings of orphans-Thousands of children have been orphaned and are easy prey.Relief goods are disappearing only to re-appear in the open market for sale.

A man was arrested unloading a relief truck in his house. Political parties have started killing each other over relief supplies Over $500 million has poured in - where is it?

Children- largest number of dead-Thousands of bodies still lie under rubble
Rain and hail is hampering the relief efforts - relief arrives and then has to pull out
Its has started snowing in certain areas Winterized Tents are desperately
needed

Phase 2 has started but:
4 million ppl need shelter in the next 20 days
In another 20 days or so it will start to snow and all the
quake ravaged areas will become completely inaccessible. Desperate race against
time to provide temporary shelter - tented communities for the next 4 mths till
winter passes ... only then can re-construction begin

There are regions that have not even been accessed yet i.e. relief no aid
Only a few organizations are working in Azad Kashmir - Edhi, RSPN- but only
certain areas WHO says that quake worse than tsunami Winterized are Tents
desperately needed or Cash to buy tents..."

From Shandana Khan- CEO of RSPN

"Mountainous region -balakot, battagram, mansehra and parts of AJK are VERY narrow valleys. Allai, in upper Battagram has received NOTHING. We are going there with a CARE team to take tents and other supplies. Clearly there is not enough heavy equipment with the army to clear these roads - they are trying very hard through air drops i.e. C130s and helis, but the scale of the devastation is tremendous.

Regions will start getting blocked, it has already started snowing in upper Bagh, and we
don't have enough time. If we get tents in, we can airlift with the army and
airforce - no problem. But people need to send double-ply, winterized tents.
Apart from this, see if you can get in touch with FONGAS or someone who can give
us small stoves cum heaters. There is no way that canvas single ply tents will
be good enough.

Some remote areas are not known to anyone except those present on the ground. we have spent two days trying to do a heli drop through the air force because they wanted coordinates for villages which we did not have. They don't know villages, valleys, nothing. We are all trying, what can i say."