Saturday, November 12, 2005
Earthquake Ground Team Week 3
Muzaffarabad- Pakistan, November 14th.
It has now been a fortnight since we arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan. Things have been 100 mph to say the least. Upon arrival we met up with "I Help UK", an NGO who is giving assistance to trauma shock patients. We spent a couple of days with them in Islamabad going to hospitals and offering counseling to mainly children and women. None the less, we still knew there was a more urgent need up north, in the remote areas of the Himalayas. We signed up with Sungi, a local Pakistani NGO who rushed us to Muzaffarabad district. Muzzafarabad district consists of:
average house after earthquake
- Elevation ranging from 1,500 meters to 4,500 meters.
- Certain areas will be receiving up to 6 feet of snow in the next couple of months.
- Death toll has reached over 50 000 in this district alone
- Over 1 million are still homeless.
- Basic aid has reached 30% of the affected population in this district. The other 70% unfortunately live in very remote areas of the Himalayas.
- 80% of jobs are down, making it almost impossible for families to make their own way financially.
Through Sungi, we distributed 3,071 blankets, 5871 mats and 2000 water buckets. Through working on aid distribution, we came to realise that aid has to be delivered rationally and equally; every house hold in a community has to receive the same aid at the same time, if this is not done, jealousy amongst fellow villagers creates violence and more seperation and more problems. Unfortunately, after our first aid distribution, Sungi closed down operations for 5 days due to Eid, the equivalent of Christmas in the Christian world. We took advantage of t
his dead time to move on with our own projects. We met up with a few more foreign volunteers and headed up to "Danna Ghan Chatter", a high and remote village where no aid had yet been given. Our goal was to start building emergency shelters for the villagers to last the winter by re-using the resources left over from the earthquake. Unfortunately, through talking to the villagers about helping them to rebuild temporary shelter, the majority weren't even sure if they would stay through out the winter in their villages. Many are realizing that the winter will be too harsh to stay up that high with the little of supplies left. Many are still overwhelmed by fear, and are traveling over hundreds of kilometers by foot to reach to the cities and hope for aid and shelter.
Being in the area, and by having worked through a local Pakistani NGO, we realised how communications between international NGOs and local Pakistani NGOs is very poor. There is a UN compound based in Muzaffarabad where all international NGOs are suppost to report all data of assessed areas to see which communities have received aid. After week 4 of this disaster, the UN headquarters still do not have any precise figures and have no idea about the activities carried out by the local Pakistani NGOs. This is causing huge duplication of supplies in certain areas, and leaving other key areas without any aid what so ever.
We subsequently went back to Muzaffarabad city where we met up with the "Dewan Group", a group of Pakistani businessmen who have regrouped all their resources and funds to set up refugee camps. We helped finish up their second refugee camp, consisting of 450 clustered tents. As soon as a tent was put up, a family immediately settled in. We noticed how these refugee camps were in such high demand . We collaborated with Dewan Group and "Tzsu chi", (a Taiwan based NGO) who reconfirm
ed guidelines for site planning. We found a site 20 minutes out of Muzaffarabad city, a valley in the middle of the Himalayas. We've planned out a spacious tent village that should accommodate about 400 tents with lots of extra space for children to run around, area for a mosque and a community center. We currently have raised enough funds to see that every tent receives 2 mattresses and 2 quilts, which is just enough warmth to make it through the night. We know this because we live in the same tents with the same supplies and still shiver at night.
Day one: setting up new refugee camp
There is still a huge immediate need for tents, blankets, warm clothes, school supplies, basic food and cooking utensils. The Dewan group covers 2 basic meals a day for all refugees. There is a huge importance for these people to find enough supplies to become self-sufficient through out the winter.
Day 4: chilling out in the new refugee camp of 400 tents
Our goal
After being on the ground now for two weeks we feel we have assesed enough to know where our help will be best put to use. With 90% of the population of kashmere now heading into the cities, there is an immediate need to establish more refugee camps and have them managed and organised. Each camp will hold approximately 2000-3000 people. Each camp must have proper sanatation, security, drainage, food, schools, religous centers etc. It is Dewan's wish that we stay to set up new camps as well as manage them. This is immediate clear cut work that sees immediate results.
Thank you so much to those who have and are making this project possible. The people of Pakistan, along with ourselves, are very touched by the huge support that we've received. We will be in contact within the next two weeks
Contact Information:
Group email pakistanearthquake@hotmail.com
Paddy: skunkyjak@hotmail.com
Sarah : ecfdions@hotmail.com
Sally: salmc4@hotmail.com
