Kashmir tragedy is "never-ending for millions of people"
Tariq Raza, coordinator of Caritas aid for quake survivors, has just returned from villages in Kashmir. "We need help quickly. People are dying and we cannot even reach all the places."
Mansehra (AsiaNews) The tragedy of the Indo-Pakistani quake is "never-ending, for millions of people", says Tariq Raza. The Pakistani Caritas coordinator of emergency aid to quake survivors has just returned from a reconnaissance mission in more than 1000 villages of Kashmir struck by the earthquake. He wrote a testimony for AsiaNews, together with an account of the first two weeks of work. The situation is "the greatest logistical challenge we have ever faced. We must do everything we can, no matter how small the contribution".
The 8 October earthquake, which measured 7.6 on the Richter scale, shook more than 20,000 square km of land across Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, including small villages nestled in the Himalayas. Balakot is the worst-hit area. No building has remained standing. Survivors recall the tremor as "an enormous noise and then nothing. We thought we had been blinded because of all the dust which came from the mountains, covering everything." The Caritas coordinator said in his testimony that "at the moment, with the few means and funds we have at our disposal, we are unable to reach 20% of the stricken zones: people who live there risk dying from hunger, cold, and untreated wounds. Balakot, already covered by winter ice, is still without aid and all the other villages share the same predicament.
"A feature of the Himalayan mountain range is many peaks close to each other, which make it impossible to deliver aid from the skies: these areas are reachable only on foot and this only along tracks where landslides have not made the roads impassable. There is no electricity and there is no communication: it is impossible to know how many people are trapped there and what their most urgent needs are. The weather conditions are destined to worsen (the temperature at night drops to below zero) and according to Caritas estimates, 3.3 million people urgently need shelter and warmth. Survivors we have managed to reach need blankets, tents, food, drinking water and medical aid. They also need psychological help because they have all lost one relative at least: some saw their whole family, more than 10 people sometimes, die crushed by the debris.
"The Pakistani Caritas has managed to help 5,000 displaced families for now, in villages not covered by government assistance. We undertake to help those most in need who are found in city suburbs. One of the members of my team talked to a woman of Nara, a destroyed village: 'My husband and all the male members of my family are dead. Now I am alone to care for my little children and I have only a few biscuits to feed them. The house has collapsed. How will I survive?'"
Tariq Raza drew attention to the fact that the United Nations has renewed its appeal to member states and that the UN coordinator for humanitarian aid, Jan Vandemoortele, has said: "The immensity of the disaster becomes ever clearer and the work to help the stricken population is colossal". Continued Tariq: "We need all manner of items: tents for the winter, sleeping bags, medicines and many helicopters. These are all things money can buy, however it impossible to buy time". To date, 90 million dollars have been poured into the solidarity fund set up by the United Nations, which had asked for at least 312 million dollars for immediate aid three days after the natural disaster.
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