Another
can of air freshener is tossed into a growing pile amid broken
bricks and bent steel. The rescue workers get a brief respite
from the smell of death, but only for seconds.
Three men battle with hammers and a blowtorch to break through
collapsed walls, working like miners to tunnel down. Before
8 October, the site was a solid two-storey house…a family’s
home. Now a hand protrudes from the debris and the exhausted,
sweat-streaked men will take hours to recover the body.
Urgent needs
Trucks roar by, bringing in more relief supplies. The bright,
decorative designs, customary on trucks in Pakistan, look out
of place amid the desolation. In the convoy are food, tents
and blankets from the Pakistan Red Crescent Society.
A farmer herding two cows at the edge of the street watches
the trucks rumble by. “We urgently need tents,”
he says.
“Nothing is left from my house. At least I could save
my cows but now my family need a roof over their heads. In a
few weeks winter will come here to the mountains. I do not know
what we should do when the snow falls.”
The Pakistan Red Crescent has already distributed over 2,000
tents, while the International Federation is currently mobilising
25,000 tents and requesting thousands more.
Medical assistance critical
The earthquake has claimed a terrible toll on the city of Balakot,
killing an estimated 7,000 people out of a population of 30,000.
But the impact stretches far beyond the town limits, up into
the mountains where numerous villages have been cut off for
days. Across Pakistan, some 40,000 people have died according
to authorities and the toll keeps rising.
At the edge of the city, army helicopters whip up a dust storm.
The local district hospital was flattened in the earthquake
like so many other medical facilities in affected areas. Now
the wounded wait on home-made stretchers to be air-lifted. A
father tries to calm his eight-year-old daughter. Her eyes are
wide and full of fear. She has a bandage on her head but has
received only the most basic level of first aid. She is one
of many who need to be moved to where proper medical attention
can be provided.
Emergency medical assistance is one of the International Federation’s
response priorities. A French Red Cross emergency response unit
has arrived in Balakot. It is establishing a basic health care
facility that will have the capacity to treat 30,000 people
for three months. The International Federation has supplies
on the ground right now for five such teams. These have been
provided by the German Red Cross but more supplies are urgently
needed.
100% reliance on aid for six months
Virginie Roiron, a member of the International Federation Field
Assessment and Coordination team, watches as the wounded are
airlifted. “There are so many things to do,” she
explains. “I am also thinking about the earthquake survivors
in the mountains who are cut off from the aid delivered in the
valley. Even with helicopters, it is sometimes impossible to
bring them help.”
The assessment team’s work is vital in informing the ongoing
response. Its early conclusions are that the affected people
will be totally reliant on emergency assistance for the next
six months. There is a considerable risk of many more deaths
if the vulnerable do not get sufficient help through the winter.
Shattered lives
Mohammad Nisar, aged 46, sits on the roof of a smashed school.
With tired eyes, he watches the comings and goings in the street.
Trucks pass by carrying troops to conduct clean-up and clearance
work. Local people carry what remains of their possessions and
others carry their dead. Balakot’s main road reflects
broken dreams and buried hopes.
“Still I can not believe what happened,” says Mohammad.
“I do not know if it makes any sense to stay in this destroyed
place. My niece was buried alive in this school. It is hard
to stand the pain when I think about her.”
An open school-book lies nearby in the dust. ‘This is
my house’ is written in English on the open page.
Many in Balakot face a harsh winter with no house and their
needs are urgent and ongoing. This is a disaster that will not
be overcome for many months.
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The
earthquake has claimed a terrible toll on the city of
Balakot, killing an estimated 7,000 people out of a population
of 30,000. (p13368)
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The
bright, decorative designs, customary on trucks in Pakistan,
look out of place amid the desolation. In the convoy are
food, tents and blankets from the Pakistan Red Crescent
Society. (p13388)
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Mohammad
Nisar, aged 46, sits on the roof of a smashed school.
With tired eyes, he watches the comings and goings in
the street. (p13373)
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“Nothing
is left from my house. At least I could save my cows,
but now my family needs a roof over their heads”.
(p13367)
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Virginie
Roiron, a member of the International Federation Field
Assessment and Coordination team, watches as the wounded
are airlifted. (p13387)
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News
