UPDATE ON EARTHQUAKE RELIEF IN PAKISTAN

Dear Friends,

2005, a year of calamities has passed and a New Year has begun -- I wish you all a very Happy and Peaceful New Year, with many blessings and joys.

I would like to thank you all for your kind and generous response to my "breaking news" appeal.  The final official toll of the catastrophic earthquake is 85,000 dead and 73,000 injured and three million displaced in Pakistan.  This calamity cast a shadow over our Christmas celebrations, which were held in a simple way this year.

In the beginning of November was Eid -- on this occasion Caritas Lahore distributed food parcels and toys to the injured survivors lying in hospitals in Lahore.  I myself went to distribute gifts to 150 patients in 2 hospitals.  It was good to see the children smile again and forget their pains.

Initially the surviving families were lodged in tent villages set up all over the valleys. But as winter began to set in, the mood began to change.  The people expressed the fear that the tents would not be able to withstand the extreme cold and snow.  They voiced the need to have sheets of corrugated iron to build shelters the only way to save the children from the snow and damp.

I thought that this is the time for us to buy tin sheets and deliver them to the needy poor families in Balakot, the worst affected town.  So through Caritas Lahore office, we made contact with the Sarhad Rural Support Program (SRSP) who were well acquainted with the area and made a list of some 220 deserving families who belonged to a village called Bhamphora, perched on the outskirts of Balakot.  Their houses were destroyed by the earthquake and they were living in tents in the valley -- now they wanted to go back and make shelters with wood and stones.  They only asked for tin roofing.

Fortunately the winter was late in arriving and a window of opportunity presented itself.  On 20th December 2005, I set off for Balakot by car with Caritas Secretary, Raymond Rozario.  We stopped for the night and early in the morning set off for the mountains, passing through Abbotabad and stopping at Mansehra for 2 hours to visit the  Caritas relief office where a lot of activity was going on.  They mostly provide health cover with a team of doctors.  Some religious nuns, who are trained nurses, work with them, giving injections and medicines to thousands.

We arrived at Balakot at noon -- it was beautiful clear, sunny day, not cold at all.  This is the start of the famed tourist attraction, the Kaghan valley, with the green water of the Kunnar River flowing thought it.  The Karakorum Highway, the legendary "Silk Road of Marco Polo" goes from here to China.  But the scene was one of utter destruction, very sad to see.  Hotels, schools and markets had crumbled - 24,000 people perished, many of them school children.  Afghan workers were busy smashing the roofs to salvage the steel rods from them.  Some shops had opened and fruit and vegetables were on sale.

We were met by Mr Babar Farooq, head of the SRSP, and he explained to us the extent of the damage. The heads of families of Bhamphora had assembled and after a brief speech we set to work distributing the steel sheets, which had arrived from Lahore in three trucks.  We also donated some medicines that had been sent from USA by Direct Relief.  After taking a few photos we travelled another three miles along the side of the mountain.  We had to pass through piles of shattered houses and finally reached Patlang, a hamlet of fifty families, living in tents.  They told me that forty people had died in the earthquake.  We distributed bundles of warm clothes and a cash gift of one thousand rupees to each family.  No doubt about it, these were desperately down and out people, but they had a dignity and resilience that were really admirable.  Their faith in Allah was unshaken.  I promised that I would send them tin sheets as well.  Of course, again and again the people expressed their thanks to us for coming all the way from Lahore to visit them.  They also asked for some sewing machines for the women folk so that they could keep busy and earn.  It would also serve as a therapy for them.

After a tasty lunch eaten while reclining in the tent owned by FRSP, we left at 3.30 pm and drove nonstop to Lahore, reaching at 11.30 pm.  In the last hour we struggled through a thick fog, which gave zero visibility.

I thank God that we were just in time to make our Santa Claus like delivery because ten days later, on New Year's Eve, the rain and snow started.  In the last three days two feet of snow have fallen and blocked the roads and made relief operations very slow and dangerous. From everywhere people are pleading for tin sheets but it will be difficult to deliver them in this freezing weather.  Helicopters too are grounded.  I only hope that in those 10 days 21st to 31st December 2005 those people were able to fix up their small shelters for winter.

There is a big rehabilitation project of Father Miguel Angel, SDB and other religious of Lahore to set up a proper permanent village about 15km of north of Balakot.  But this will only be possible after the winter.

In the end, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all you good people for your timely help.  Be sure that your donation was put to the best possible use.  As the weather permits, we will monitor the village and deliver more relief goods.  I will try to send some photographs with this update.

God bless and reward you all !

With every good wish and blessing in the New Year,

† Lawrence J Saldanha
Archbishop of Lahore, Pakistan