Baltimore, January 23, 2006 - In
the days since a powerful earthquake hit northern Pakistan in October last
year, killing 73,000 and leaving up to three million people homeless, the
humanitarian aid community has encountered a host of challenges and is
now facing its biggest test: harsh winter weather settling in over the
quake-affected mountainous areas.
"It has been a challenge from day
one to respond to this emergency because of the high terrain, culture,
security - all the challenges you can imagine," said Marvin Parvez,
director of Church World Service-Pakistan/Afghanistan (CWS), a member of
the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International. Since
the quake, CWS has been rushing to meet the needs of thousands of survivors
in camps and mountain villages, especially those at higher altitudes who
will soon be cut off by winter weather and snow.
"As the winter comes in, the situation has gotten grim," said Parvez, speaking by phone from Pakistan. But he said he believes the relief supplies CWS and other humanitarian aid organizations have been able to get to survivors so far have put thousands of people in a better position to get through the winter.
Lutheran World Relief is supporting the CWS-ACT response in Pakistan, and has so far sent approximately $425,000 for the relief effort - $50,000 of which was generously donated by The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.
"We're very grateful to the LCMS for this support," said LWR president Kathryn Wolford. "With the urgency created by the winter weather in the region, many people are still in a life-or-death situation months after the quake. This gift will help people who've lost everything survive the winter."
The CWS-ACT response has included distribution of tents, sheets and blankets, as well as providing water and sanitation services, health services, and psychosocial services for survivors.
"The winter has been unusually harsh this year again," Parvez said. He added that with 1,600 aftershocks, survivors have continued to be affected in many ways. "It's a constant battle for these survivors."
Although there are still many weeks of winter weather ahead, Parvez reported that some residents in camps for displaced people are already looking forward to the future. Psychosocial teams working with men's and women's groups in the camps that CWS is managing are starting to talk with camp residents about life after the camp and moving back to their villages. Parvez said life in many camps for people who left their villages after the quake is "quite grim" due to the cold, which forces people to stay inside their tents, which in turn causes boredom.
CWS teams working in camps have organized meetings to motivate residents and have held regular meetings with men to encourage them to think about reconstruction of their homes and villages. "We're talking and planning for how to rebuild houses. The recovery plans of CWS are in place," Parvez said. "We're talking to people about accompanying and supporting them through the rebuilding process."
While trying to address other concerns such as accessing remote villages and providing medical care, the immediate task, according to Parvez, is trying as much as possible to assist people and keep them warm, which is "an uphill task this winter."