Pakistan Earthquake 2005

Covering the earthquake, the damage and the relief work in Pakistan.

Archive for January, 2006

Fighting quakes with computers

In today’s world of modern technology, one wonders if computers could not have warned about the October 8 earthquake.

However, there is no high-tech system in the world to give warnings about earthquakes and assess its exact timing but there must be a technology that could help lessen the damage. Earth changes could be monitored regularly using modern technology.

“We are arranging an international conference on seismology in Islamabad on March 6 to 8, 2006. The conference will discuss many topics, including the role of computers in warning people about earthquakes well in time,” Dr Qamaruz Zaman Chaudhry, the Pakistan Metrological Department director general, told Daily Times.

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Rocker Bryan Adams in Pakistan for quake relief gig

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams thrilled more than 10,000 fans at a concert in Karachi on Sunday, the first big show by a Western singer in Pakistan in decades, to help students affected by country’s October 8 earthquake.

Adams, who performed most of his hits and moved the audience with “Summer of 69,” said he was glad to discover new fans in Pakistan.

“I am here because this city has a special love for music,” the singer greeted his fans at the Arabian Sea Club on the outskirts of Karachi, as hundreds of Pakistani police guarded roads and checked vehicles leading to the venue.

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Ashland blankets on their way to Pakistan

Boxed and labeled, the 350 to 400 blankets collected to help victims of the October earthquake in Pakistan are on a truck heading south to Los Angeles. There, the boxes of blankets will be packed away on an ocean freighter and shipped halfway around the world.

On Thursday, Karen Amarotico and two friends loaded the boxes of blankets onto wooden pallets and affixed stickers that read “Blankets to Pakistan with love from Ashland, Oregon” and included Amarotico’s e-mail address.

Oak Harbor Freight donated the shipment of the blankets from Ashland to Los Angeles, where a large relief effort is underway. Amarotico’s blankets will be added to supplies already collected and ferried to Pakistan before winter ends.

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For postquake Pakistanis, a greater need

Following is the editorial from The Christian Science Monitor:

Try explaining “donor fatigue” to the earthquake survivors in Pakistan - up to 3 million of whom need food and shelter as winter blows into the Himalayas. Or, explain it to hard-line Muslim groups providing humanitarian assistance while the West responds with far less magnanimity than it did after Asia’s tsunami.

Perhaps because the Oct. 8 quake came in the wake of other large-scale disasters, perhaps because nations’ aid budgets are stretched, or because the 7.6 temblor hasn’t received 24/7 media coverage - whatever the reasons, the relief effort in mountainous northern Pakistan is in a cash crisis, and requires urgent response.

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Why 10,000 schools collapsed

Ten-year-old Kaleem’s classroom is now a tent, his schoolyard a patch of ground near a stream. His real school in Bampora was flattened in the earthquake, trapping him under rubble for six hours before rescuers found him. Kaleem, smiling shyly, says he is happy to be back in class.

Kaleem’s makeshift tent school, which the Army opened just days ago in Balakot, signals that the first wave of healing has begun after at least 17,000 children died in school collapses. But it comes amidst growing demands from citizens groups for an investigation into why so many schools - some 10,000 - came down, and confrontations over safety between concerned parents and school administrators.

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Winter weather presents new challenges for relief agencies

Winter weather is slowing down the relief and support activities, in earthquake affected areas. Thierry Lakahinsky of Belgium’s Skytech said that with winter setting in, the death toll will probably rise. “Everybody is anxious to see how the flying conditions will be affected by the incoming weather.”

Skytech is under contract to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which currently has one Mi-26T, an Mi-8T, two Puma 330s, a Super Puma and three Mi-17s under renewable monthly contracts. The UN’s World Food Program was said to be organizing a tender for three more Mi-17s, and Russia’s state emergency response ministry has an Mi-26T in the affected region, after flying to Islamabad four days after the earthquake. Pilots estimate that as many as 70 smaller helicopters are also involved in the relief effort.

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Earthquake appeal from Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel, the renowned musician famous in this part of world for his collaboration with late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, came up with an appeal for earthquake victims in Pakistan.

Peter has provided a Digital Download of 2 MP3 format tracks (256kbs). All sales proceedings, after deduction of transaction charges, will go to charities working for relief and support of earthquake victims.

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USAID to spend $ 66.6 M in earthquake affected areas of Pakistan

United States Agency For International Development (USAID) would provide dollars 66.6 million to Pakistan to assist in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of quake affected areas.

The USAID has funded eight NGO partners to provide shelter assistance for a targeted 75,500 households.

The Agency has also provided nearly 6.3 million dollars in emergency relief commodities, including transportation cost for earthquake affected areas.

The Agency has also delivered a total of 47,500 blankets, 1,570 winterized tents, 8,050 rolls of plastic sheeting for 36,672 families, 15,000 water containers, 2 water purification units.

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