Alarm Mounts for 3 Mil. Left Homeless in Pakistan as Winter Closes In

[yolland]

I know we've been all digging into our pockets a lot lately, but please consider donating to this effort whatever you can afford at the moment. The potential for loss of life if dramatic action is not taken SOON is horrific, and a little show of Western concern in this area could go a long way.

Unicef
www.unicef.org
UN Refugee Agency
www.unhcr.ch
Disasters Emergency Committee (UK)
www.dec.org.uk
Kashmir International Relief Fund
www.kirf.org
Red Cross/ Red Crescent
www.icrc.org

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Alarm mounted across the world on Friday for survivors of the Pakistan earthquake still awaiting help two weeks after their world collapsed, with a freezing Himalayan winter looming. The United Nations yesterday warned of a second, massive wave of deaths unless more is done to help the estimated 3 million people left homeless, with no blankets nor tents to protect them from the Himalayan winter. Unicef has warned that up to 10,000 children could die from hunger, hypothermia or illness in the next few weeks alone.

Yet the outside response has been hesitant. The UN has received just $86m of the $312m pledged to its emergency appeal, in contrast with 80% of pledges at the same stage after the south Asian tsunami.

The top United Nations aid official, Jan Egeland, was so incensed by what he saw as a woefully inadequate international response to the most difficult relief operation the world has ever seen that he called on NATO to stage a massive airlift to get survivors to safety.

That would mean helicopters, the only means of getting quickly deep into the rugged Himalayan foothills of Pakistani Kashmir and North West Frontier Province where 50,000 people are known to have died, a number expected to rise substantially.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has told India he would accept helicopters, but only if they came without crews given the enormous political sensitivity of the issue. India said no and Egeland called on the two governments to figure out a compromise fast.

The few roads into the high hills were crumpled, buried by landslides, even swept away by the Oct. 8 quake and aid officials on the ground are frightened that countless more people, without adequate shelter, cold and miserable, could die. Pakistani soldiers are using mules, horses and donkeys, even carrying supplies up on their backs. So are villagers.

"We went to one village at 1,300 metres and temperatures were dropping to minus five at night and there were old people whose only shelter was plastic sheeting," said Mia Turner of the World Food Programme. "Shelter is crucial and people don't get that soon there will be a crisis of a different kind -- people will start dying of exposure."

But tents of a kind which can stand up to the harsh Himalayan winter are in short supply and Pakistan pleads daily for the world to send more. "We need the world's help to provide tents and kerosene heaters to protect people from the cold," said Major-General Farooq Ahmed Khan, chief coordinator of the relief effort, in his latest appeal.

Egeland and other aid officials with experience of both said the earthquake relief operation was more difficult than that in the wake of last year's Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more people but hit coastlines ships could reach easily. "We have never had this kind of logistical nightmare ever," said Egeland. "We thought the tsunami was bad, this is worse. And the world is not responding as we should be."

Pakistan said the number of injured, now 79,000, could also rise substantially with large areas still not reached. How many bodies are still buried in the rubble, nobody knows.

 

[lady luck]

I think it's a SHAME that no one is talking and acting for the tragedy that hit this country

I mean, 2005 has been a very hard year: earthquakes, the tsunami, disasters, lots of hurricane in the US.

All the victims are having a hard time.
We've been through a lot of shocks, and I hope that this will make us think about the impact we have on our world and to take care of it.


But WHY no one is acting for the people of Pakistan?
Why are they not getting the help they need??

Because there were no tourists there?
Because there are no camera films of that?

Why??

 

[nbcrusader]

Thank you for posting the links.

 

[AcrobatMan]

there are more than 70 terrorist camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir...

Terror camps at Chakothi, Muzaffarabad, Kahuta and Bagh has been worst hit..

I am sad at the death of civilians... but it also killed more than 700 terrorists who were just waiting to kill innocent civilians in India...

The total of civilians killed by these bombers in last 10 years has close to 60000 to 80000

 

[indra]

Wow. I can't imagine living in a tent in that harsh of a winter. And to think that would be a vast improvement over the current conditions for so many is sobering.

Thanks for the reminder and the links.

 

[verte76]

Yeah, thanks for the links.

 

[wizard2c]

reply

I think it's a SHAME that no one is talking and acting for the tragedy that hit this country

I mean, 2005 has been a very hard year: earthquakes, the tsunami, disasters, lots of hurricane in the US.

All the victims are having a hard time.
We've been through a lot of shocks, and I hope that this will make us think about the impact we have on our world and to take care of it.


But WHY no one is acting for the people of Pakistan?
Why are they not getting the help they need??

Because there were no tourists there?
Because there are no camera films of that?

Why??

Don't worry...you're not the only one asking the very same questions....you see no one really cares about the children of the world........oh they say they do....but they don't. And don't worry......you're not the only one watching why there is NO COVERAGE OF THIS and so much attention to an erratic huricane. Perhaps because there were only over 70,000 people killed in the earthquake.......add it all up.....it does make NO SENSE....but if you eliminate the space with the words no sense and replace with the letter "n".....what do you get?

 

[yolland]

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuters), Oct. 22 - Hopes of a massive airlift to bring survivors to safety were dashed on Friday when NATO turned down a United Nations appeal. The U.S.-dominated military alliance said it would send up to 1,000 troops to help, but would not stage an airlift to rescue survivors on the scale of the 1948-49 Berlin operation for the beleaguered people of Soviet-blockaded West Berlin.

"NATO is not a humanitarian organisation. NATO is playing its role within the framework of what it is," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.

Since some of you mentioned the belatedness of media response and, in particular, the lack of images of what is going on in the affected areas, I am posting a few images from various websites (BBC, Reuters, charities) below. While few if any camera crews have made it into the worst-hit areas yet, these photos depict the situation in Muzaffarabad, the largest town in the region, which relief workers are using as a base for forays further into the mountains. Muzaffarabad is on the outer periphery of the epicentre zone, which means things are likely even worse in the hundreds of villages further in.

As you can see, the devastation is pretty total, and there are thousands of seriously injured as well. I also came across, on one of these sites (BBC? not sure anymore, sorry) some video clips of relief workers describing their operations. These were hard to watch--several of them broke down in tears of anguish and frustration as they described the thousands of people they know they will not be able to save because they simply cannot get the needed medical supplies to them quickly enough. Please say a prayer for the relief workers as well, folks--I cannot imagine what it must be like to be someone with a mission to save lives in an impossible situation such as this.

 

[trevster2k]

CBC news showed a picture of a baby getting treated for facial burns for the first time and doctors from Doctor Without Frontiers were describing horrible conditions and how babies were dying and there were no blankets or anything to give the people. And now millions of people have to attempt to survive the cold conditions in the mountains of Pakistan without any shelter unless they are fortunate enough to get a tent but still that is not much help in the coming winter.

The most disappointing thing about this past year aside from the enormity of disasters to strike the planet is the pitiful reaction to these tragedies. Despite a 5000 year history on this planet, we still are the same as we were back in 500 BC, our empathy and love of fellow human beings is conditional and impeded by bureaucratic bullshit. Shame on us!

I'm sure many of us here have donated but many more have not for different reasons. Some cannot afford to give but even a $10 donation can help save a life. Some refuse to give because of cycnism about where the money goes, some because of the Pakistani government and terrorist strongholds in that country. Whatever! The hundreds of thousands of innocent victims are just like you and me who simply want to live a simple life with family and friends not join terrorist organizations. If we spent a tenth of the money the world spends on weapons each year on saving lives, the world would be a much better place.

 

[yolland]

OK, I don't mean to keep buggin' y'all about this...SO...this will be the last time I'll drag this thread back up--but, just in case anyone missed it the first time, or meant to donate (see URLs in first post) but forgot...

As mentioned below, some of the world's richest countries have thus far given NOTHING to the UN campaign. If you are one of our posters in these countries, perhaps you might let whoever represents you know that you want to see that changed.

And a to the Brits and Swedes for their generosity.

Again, a little show of Western concern could really go a long way here...

Rich world 'failing' on quake aid
BBC, 26 October, 2005

Many of the world's richest countries have so far failed to support a UN appeal for victims of the South Asian quake, a top UK-based charity has said. Oxfam said less than 30% of the $312m (£175m) sought by UN aid agencies had even been promised.

Oxfam named seven rich countries which have so far given nothing to the UN appeal in the wake of the Oct 8 earthquake -- Belgium, France, Austria, Finland, Greece, Portugal and Spain.
It also identified four that have given less than one-fifth of their fair share -- the United States (9 pct), Italy (7 pct), Germany (14 pct) and Japan (17 pct).

QUAKE AID PLEDGES TO DATE
UK $17.4m
US $10.8m
Sweden $10.5m
Canada $8.9m
Japan $8m
Netherlands $7.8m
Germany $3.9m
Italy $1.2m
France, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Portugal, Spain - all $0

"This catastrophe has given a new, all too human meaning to the concept of a race against time," Kofi Annan, UN secretary-general, told a ministerial meeting in Geneva. "It will require a dramatic escalation on every front: more funding, more logistics, more manpower."

"We have never had this kind of logistical nightmare, ever," said Jan Egeland, the UN's emergency relief co-ordinator,referring to the need to help people in a 30,000 sq km area in which all essential infrastructure has been destroyed. Many injured had undergone limb amputations due to delayed evacuations, while hundreds of thousands more faced hunger and exposure, he told a media briefing. "If we had had this fund, we would have been able to do more earlier," Egeland told officials from around 60 countries at the emergency donors' conference to boost rescue efforts.

Meanwhile, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said the financial cost of the quake will be more than $5bn. He defended his handling of the country's worst natural disaster, saying the government "had done a good, if not a very good, job". But he acknowledged that hardline Islamic groups had stepped into an administrative vacuum in the days after the quake, providing relief and humanitarian assistance in Kashmir, a development that analysts say will bolster their legitimacy.

On the ground, aid officials are warning that more people could die of hunger, cold and injuries than were killed by the earthquake itself. UN chief aid co-ordinator Rashid Khaliko said the coming winter would cut off many remote communities in the region. He told reporters in the devastated Kashmiri city of Muzzafarabad that relief workers had until the end of November to get hundreds of thousands of people under shelter, treat the injured and provide food stocks to last the harsh winter. "The disaster is looming large," Mr Khaliko said. "We have thousands and thousands of very vulnerable people. What these communities will have by 1 December is what they will have to live with. It's not much time. We basically have four weeks to deliver."

 

[dandy]

thanks, yolland, for starting this thread and for reminding us of what's going on in kashmir.

 

[deep]

Musharraf slams quake aid response

Friday 04 November 2005, 21:34 Makka Time, 18:34 GMT

The Pakistani president said contributions had fallen short


Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has criticised the international community for failing to provide sufficient aid to survivors of last month's devastating earthquake.

The Pakistani leader said the world had given less money than it had for survivors of last December's tsunami because no Westerners had been involved.

 

[wizard2c]

reply

You do wonder, though. It seems the media and help arrived immediately after the tsunami happened and those people were not freezing to death.

The Children.......why do they always seems to have to suffer this way?

But as I said before......there are many observers out in the world.....and they are just sitting back and watching it all....and making notes......and making decisions..........

 

[Se7en]

it's so sad. no money, no one cares. it can't get any more obvious.

 

[AvsGirl41]

I have been wondering why the world is ignoring this. What, no benefit concerts? No telethons? I realize that people have given alot, or feel that they have, over the past year but honestly...where is the international community?

Thanks for the links, I passed them on and visited UNICEF myself.

 

[AvsGirl41]

I'll also add that Mercy Corps, via the www.thechildhealthsite.org is also participating in relief. You can do your Christmas shopping AND send relief.

 

[VertigoGal]

thanks for the links. I hate to think these people will be forgotten this winter.

 

[Bono's shades]

Thanks for the links.

 

[Angela Harlem]

thank you for this, yolland.

 

[anne_j]

In Sweden TV4 will have a show in cooperation with the red cross to raise money for the victims in Pakistan today, Monday at 9PM.
There is a link on their main page www tv4.se to a site where they explain how you can donate money.
They say 40 swedish crowners (about 5 US dollars) is the worth of one blanket, and 180 (about 22 US dollars) that of some sort of heater.
That's not a whole lot of money to us, I intend to give what I can, and I encourage other swedes to do the same tonight. We were incredibly generous after the tsunami, and I know there were lots of us who lost loved ones in that catastrophe, but that showed that we have the will to give, atleast. Let's do it again.

 

[AcrobatMan]

money donations should be avoided

as it can ( WILL) be used for terrorist purposes.

instead of blanket, bombs will be bought.



those bombs will be used in srinagar

 

[yolland]

Care to elaborate on which of the links posted is for a known terrorist proxy? Four of the five links I posted (Red Cross, UN Refugee Agency, UNICEF, Disasters UK) are major international aid organizations, which many of us also donated tsunami funds to. The fifth (KIRF) is a British charity of longstanding acclaim and the largest international NGO active in the region, historically devoted to building clinics and hospitals and to organizing vocational schooling for women. All five organizations have their own independent aid workers on the ground in the affected area as we speak.

Or perhaps you know of something sinister about Swedish TV4 or the Mercy Corps?

 

[AcrobatMan]

Pakistan occupied kashmir is a haven for terrorists and terrorist camps.

These money are most likely to end up in the hands of groups like Laskar-e-Toiba and such terrorists organisation. I bet Sweden will be safer if the terrorist kill innocent civilians here.

Do you know that more than 80000 people have been killed by these terrorists in last 10 years.

 

[AcrobatMan]

well established secular charity groups are okay ( if we know that they dont give monetry assistance to local terrorist groups)... but one should where his or her donation is going..

safe donations could be medicines, blankets, tents, durable food and such stuff...anything but cash

"Three pro-militant charities—banned by the US—use quake aid to revive themselves


AMIR MIR


| e-mail | one page format | feedback: send - read |


From the rubble of the earthquake have risen proscribed Islamic charity groups, providing relief to a devastated people and riding the tide of gratitude to bolster their image.


Three such groups—Al-Rashid Trust, Al-Akhtar Trust and the Ummah Tameer-e-Nau—had been declared as terrorist support organisations by the United States; and their bank


The Proscribed Ones

accounts frozen by the Pakistan government. But within weeks of the October 8 quake, amid an all-round collapse of the administration, the three Islamic charities have resurrected themselves through humanitarian operations.

No longer are the activities of these charities clandestine, nor are their activists shadowy figures engaged in social welfare. In Azad Kashmir (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for Indian readers), they have opened relief camps with banners proudly proclaiming their names. Indeed, immediately after the quake, these charities launched a massive media campaign, asking people to donate lavishly. Their volunteers claimed that Islam requires every Muslim to contribute to charity, or zakat (a mandatory 2.5 per cent every Muslim has to pay on their annual savings every year), which is aimed at supporting those striving to promote the cause of Allah.

The response to the appeal was prompt and massive, both in and outside Pakistan: millions of rupees have poured in, and their dozen camps in Kashmir now brim over with relief material. In several remote areas, such as in Balakot and Batgram districts, the volunteers of these charities and other pro-militancy groups have taken a lead over the army in providing succour to the people.

But their dubious past still lurks behind their humanitarian measures in Kashmir. Always flush with funds, these charities had been earlier accused of funnelling donations worth billions to militant groups. American counter-terrorism experts based in Pakistan say Muslim charity organisations have been one of the major sources of funds for Pakistani militants. The advantage arises from the difficulty law enforcement agencies encounter in determining whether the donation is actually being utilised for the originally specified purpose, or diverted to bankroll dubious activities. After US intelligence agencies unravelled that the World Trade Center bombings were financed via funds from a Muslim charity organisation—Alkifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn, New York—they turned the spotlight on Islamic charities worldwide. Their scrutiny resulted in the closure of Al-Rashid Trust, Al-Akhtar Trust and the Ummah Tameer-e-Nau in Pakistan.

The latest activities of these charities have sparked fears of a reforging of ties between Islamic charities and militants. Their symbiotic relationship could empower both. Leading political analyst Dr Hassan Askari Rizvi says both militants and Islamic charities have not only won public sympathy but have also received massive donations. "While their popularity and influence keep soaring, the Musharraf regime appears directionless," Rizvi told Outlook.

In the backdrop of the devastating earthquake, the government perhaps is hamstrung in preventing the proscribed charities from reaching out to people. President Pervez Musharraf said so to a TV channel: "I know that some extremist outfits are participating in relief activities in the quake-affected areas. Their activities are being watched closely.... (But) I am not going to prevent anyone from helping the people." Federal relief commissioner Maj Gen Farooq Ahmed said on October 20, "The government cannot stop anyone from participating in relief activities "

 

[anne_j]

Well, as I wrote in my post, swedish TV4 is doing this show in cooperation with the Red Cross, which I would say is a well established secular charity group, so I still intend to give money.

 

[nbcrusader]

Unfortunately, this thread should be locked because of the links to charitable groups.

 

[AvsGirl41]

well established secular charity groups are okay ( if we know that they dont give monetry assistance to local terrorist groups)... but one should where his or her donation is going..

safe donations could be medicines, blankets, tents, durable food and such stuff...anything but cash

You are crying wolf when there's not one to be found in this thread.

And well established secular charity groups were all that was posted here. You can visit their websites if you are concerned--UNICEF (where I made mine) deals primarily with children. They are not going to hand out the money to a local Islamic group, they are going to use it to buy the food, clothing and shelter that Pakistan's children need.

I'm sure we would all love to send material items, but the organization of those kinds of efforts is massive. They are far less likely to reach their destination, and may fall into the wrong hands. Organizations like the Red Cross and UNICEF are better equipped and prepared, which is why they prefer monetary donations.

I think this is a reason MANY are not contributing, because somehow they will be supporting terrorism. It's becoming a great excuse to ignore a massive humanitarian problem.

 

[Sherry Darling]

Just thought those concerned would enjoy a bit of good news.

BBC: Quake Aid Now Exceeds Target

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4451514.stm

 

[nbcrusader]

Why is this thread still open? Threads about charitable agencies violate Interference policy.

 

[wizard2c]

reply

As I mentioned before regarding this subject, I was not the only one sitting back and watching and taking notes.............the word got around and so has the money and aid. Thanks for the link Sherry Darling.

The sad part about this earthquake was President Musharraf's comment that "Children are the main victims because they happened to be in the school at the time. The major brunt of the casualties has been taken by the children. They say a full generation has been lost."