Bring
surgical masks I was warned. Now I know why. The stench of decomposing
bodies hangs heavy on the air in Balakot, a town in Pakistan’s
north-western province.
Set in a valley amid the stunning mountains of Kashmir, this
was once a popular alpine tourist destination, the last stop
before a hike in the mountains.
Now Balakot lies ruined. Nothing more than an omelette of twisted
metal and concrete. I helped the Red Cross respond to the tsunami
in Aceh, Indonesia, last December. There, destruction in places
such as Banda Aceh as well as Meulaboh was beyond comprehension.
But this is different. Not one building stands in Balakot. The
air clogged thick with dust. The town, once home to 150,000,
people, destroyed totally. The official death toll here will
never be known but it could easily be tens of thousands.
Nowhere to bury the dead
Lying next to the road, the body of a woman covered in a white
shroud. A crowd of men, perhaps her relatives, block our land
cruiser and plead with us to take the body.
Take the body where? It was a dreadful moment. I felt sick with
shame as we gestured that we could not take her – someone’s
wife, mother, daughter. It was heart wrenching. A moment I will
never forget but perhaps wish could.
So many bodies have been laid to rest here that land for burial
is hard to find.
Heaps of unused clothes
And strewn all over the streets, clothes of all shapes and sizes.
So many clothes that frequently I walked on mounds of brightly
coloured fabrics. Apparently the Pakistan military had tossed
the clothing from helicopters in the days following the disaster.
Little wonder.
Balakot is hard to reach. It took us four hours to drive some
170 kilometres to reach Balakot. And that’s by four wheel
drive. A truck laden with relief items would take longer.
Getting sufficient aid to this and other stricken towns and
villages even more remote than Balakot is a challenge. But there’s
no room for excuses. In Balakot and other earthquake areas we
are getting aid where it is needed most.
Children need help
Teams of Red Cross water engineers as well as doctors and nurses
have established field hospitals and water distribution points
in the town and elsewhere. The basic health care facility alone
has seen over 500 patients since it opened.
Children are especially traumatized, according to one Red Cross
doctor. Many have witnessed their parents and elders die or
suffer horrendously.
Tents and shelter
The Red Cross is determined to continue to meet the needs of
those affected by a disaster the UN is describing as the world’s
worst ever. For the next six months we aim to meet the basic
shelter and food needs of some 500,000 people. The challenges
of securing and distributing that much aid are huge.
Priority number one - winterized tents. A winterized tent to
shelter a family of seven from freezing temperatures costs only
a couple of hundred dollars. Not much really. But it could mean
the difference between life and death for quake survivors.
I for one hope the world does not fail them now.
I had my moment of shame when faced with a plea to transport
a dead body. Knowing that my work may inform people of the appalling
suffering being endured here, I hope to ease my sense of guilt
by at least seeing some of the hundreds of thousands of people
who right now have nothing, get the shelter that they need to
protect them from freezing temperatures and icy chills.
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Rubbish
is piled up among the debris of concrete and twisted metal.
(p13449)
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Not
one building stands in Balakot. The air clogged thick
with dust. The town, once home to 150,000, people, destroyed
totally. (p13451)
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I
helped the Red Cross respond to the tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia,
last December. There, destruction in places such as Banda
Aceh as well as Meulaboh was beyond comprehension. But
this is different. (p13450)
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