Letter 1

I have come back from Kashmir last night. TENTS ARE URGENTLY NEEDED.
Domestic tent industry cannot cope up with the demand. A tent has jumped
from Rs.3400,day before yesterday to Rs 4500 ,yesterday to Rs 6000 last
night. I am assuming that most of the  addresses in this mails are expats.
PLEASE FIND THOSE TENTS,winter is just around the corner.
I would also like to share a personal glimpse of the aid/relief activities.
All highways are jam-packed with transport of all kinds carrying relief
cargoes/volunteers. From the face of it looked as if everybody in Pakistan
has decided to come to Kashmir. Personally I think as far as the relief
goods are concerned people of Pakistan have done a marvellous job, they have
come forward with a remarkable generosity. This generosity however may serve
nobody if this relief cargo is not channelled in an organised fashion.
FIND TENTS!
Sa'ad

Letter 2

A great number of clothing items are being discarded because they do not suit the cultural/religious sensitivities of the region. Please note that the quake ravaged areas are conservative environments and hence the attire is also modest and traditional.

So please only send clothing items that suit the needs of the people such as:

Jackets/coats/sweaters/socks/shoes- (practical/durable/comfortable)

 

 

Letter 3

 

MY REPORT OF THE BALAKOT TRIP

Four days later, they are still not even trying to extricate the dead.
From under the rubble of collapsed buildings, a gut-wrenching smell of
decaying corpses now fills the town. The rats have it good; the one I
accidentally stepped upon was already fat. If there is indeed a plan to
clear the concrete rubble in and around the town, nobody seems to have any
clue. But the Balakotis are taking it in their stride - nose masks are
everywhere.

There is good news. The Mansehra to Balakot road stretch, finally forced
open by huge army bulldozers and earth moving machinery, is now available
to relief trucks. Goods donated across the country are piled to the truck
roofs. If there ever was a time when the people of Pakistan moved
together, this is it. Even the armed bandits who waylay relief supplies -
to guard against whom soldiers with automatic weapons stand at alert every
few hundred yards - cannot destroy the euphoria of having this solitary
moment of unspoiled national unity.

Aid from across the world is making its way, and the United States is here
too. Double bladed Chinook helicopters, diverted from fighting Al-Qaida in
Afghanistan, weave their way through the mountains. They fly over the
heartland of jihad and the militant training camps in Mansehra to drop
food and tents a few miles beyond. Temporarily birds of peace instead of
war, they do immensely more to soothe the highly Islamic, highly
conservative, bearded mountain people than the reams of silly propaganda
on glossy paper put out by the US information services in Pakistan.

Visibility makes relief choppers terrific propaganda, for good or for
worse. This is undoubtedly why the Pakistani government refused an Indian
offer to send in helicopters for relief work in and around Muzzafarabad,
the flattened capital of Pakistani administered Kashmir. In spite of a
much celebrated peace process, Pakistan has also not issued visas to
Indian peace groups and activists that seek participation in the relief
effort. Sandeep Pandey and other Indian activists are very frustrated.

Islamic groups from across the country have arrived in vast numbers.
Some bring relief supplies, others simply harangue poor goat herders and
simple tillers of the soil to tell them that their misdeeds brought about
this catastrophe. None seem to have an explanation for why God's wrath was
especially directed to mosques, madrassas, and schools - all of which have
collapsed in huge numbers. And none say why thousands of the faithful have
been buried alive in this sacred month of fasting.

Bad news: the aid is still too little, often of the wrong kind, and is not
getting to those most affected. Hundreds of destroyed communities lie
scattered deep in the mountains. We saw helicopters attempt aerial drops;
landing is impossible in most places. But people told us that they often
miss and the supplies land up thousands of feet below or in deep forests.

Distribution is haphazard and uncoordinated, done with little thought. In
Balakot we saw relief workers simply throw packets of food and clothes
from the top of trucks, and a subsequent riot. Hustlers thrive, the weak
watch passively. Tons of clothes, lovingly donated and packed by citizens
around Pakistan, but mostly useless because of specific cultural and
climatic conditions, are mixed and scattered with garbage and rubble
throughout the town.

I have mixed feelings about the army role. I did not see enough to
validate a previous observation that they were shirking. But certainly, I
did not see senior officers anywhere. The Edhi Trust gets full credit and
more.

For me personally, there was a sense of dejavu. Nearly 31 years ago, on
25th December 1974, a powerful earthquake had flattened towns along the
Karakorum Highway killing nearly 10,000 people. I had traveled with a
university team into the same mountains for similar relief work. Prime
Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had made a passionate appeal for funds around
the world, taken a token helicopter trip to the destroyed town of Besham,
and made fantastic promises for rehabilitation. But then hundreds of
millions of dollars in relief funds received from abroad mysteriously
disappeared. Some well-informed people believe that those funds were used
to kick off Pakistan's secret nuclear program.

Shall the present government do better? This will only be if citizens, and
international donors, demand transparency and accounts are available for
public audit.

The clock is ticking. In barely two months from now, the mountains will
get their first snowfall and temperatures will plummet below zero. There
are simply not enough tents, blankets, and warm clothes to go around.
Hundreds of tent clusters have come up, but thousands of families remain
out under the skies, facing rain and hail, and with dread in their hearts.
These families have lost everything but the tattered clothes on their
backs. Some even lost the land they had lived upon for generations - the
top soil simply slid away, leaving behind hard rock and rubble. Those
without shelter will die. From a special university fund we have pledged a
dozen families to rebuild their houses. This number can be pushed up to
fifty with the amount you have pledged so far (assuming Rs 50K per house,
where the cost is for wood and stone mostly). But ten thousand or more
will be needed in the Mansehra-Balakot-Kaghan area alone, not to speak of
adjoining Kashmir.

That's all for now.
---------------
Pervez Hoodbhoy

 

 

Letter 4

 

Salaam Alikum,
It is virtually hard to put all of those things that I have seen into words and since I do not have neither the engergy nor the emotional strength I will try to keep this as concise as possible.
We left on sunday which was about 18 or so hours after the earthquake so our response time was good. We had two excellent excellent drivers who were very familiar with all the hard to get to ways and short cuts.
The moment we crossed over into Azad Kashmir which in it self was task. My first impression was of sheer shock, not just mine but of everyone's else as well. The only way to put it is that it made 9/11 look like a brisk walk on a sunny sunday morning.
We kept on staring at the first site (base camp). we came accross one of the worlds roughest river's (Jehlum). The noise of river was so loud that it muted just about all the noise we were about to hear of screams, fights, and pandamonium only a few feet away.
This site was about 32KM from Deerkot where we were headed. This was an area where the total military presence was less than 10, plus 4 helicopters that were on continuious med-evac operations. Every car (only civilian cars no military) that was coming from the region had dead bodies which were piling where the army had its base camp. The only two armymen at the base camp told us that army had not made its way here - the only help here is the people who had their families in here and were working in Pindi (a near buy major City 3 hours dirve at 100KM nonstop).
I asked the guy what do you want us to do - he said their are three roads leading from here each goes to many villages just pick one and do what ever you can. There are dead and injured all over the place "Do not waste your time with the dead or dying" save those that can be saved. My next question was which way to Deerkot we pointed us to one of the streets.
And that is how the day started. I will only tell you about the first two people we had encountered - the first was a middle aged man sorrounded by 8 or 10 people we checked him he had major injuries (this is 10 KM from base camp) At about 50m hight from base camp or 8000 (not sure the army guy told me) feet above sea level. We checked him he had major internal injuries we tried to create a situation by saying lets go lets get him to base camp. One of his family members intervened and said he is as good as dead and no one except for Allah can save him move on help those who can be saved. And we moved on climbing an other few meter on a dirt road not wider than 4.5 to 5 feet we mere stopped by a hilux pickup truck waving in the middle of the road we jumped out he said help this man. There was older man 50 to 60 calmly laying in the blanket. I lifted the blanket he had a severed leg which was a laying a few inchs away. I asked the guy who pulled us over what do you want me to with him. He says can you fix him - I said no: - he goes never mind the leg can you fix him. So we gave him coedine and bandaged the open wound he went down to base camp and we went up.
The whole day went on like this and there are heart breaking stories everywhere. However the brighter side is that I was not the only one. When we were heading back a lot of people on their own are renting cars, pick-ups, and trucks and heading that way we talked to some of them and tried to prepare them emotionally and mentally for what they are about to experience.
I will be leaving for Bagh - which comes after Deerkot with fresh supplies tommorow.
Thank you and Jazak'Allah for you support and help.
Abdurrahman