Earthquake Relief Efforts

Posting a message from a friend:

---

From: ``Khan, Shahid``
Date: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 4:02 pm
Subject: OPEN`s Appeal for Earthquake Relief Support

> Dear OPEN Members and Friends:
>
> WE NEED YOUR HELP!
>
> On Saturday, October 8th, Pakistan suffered the worst national
> disaster of its history. You have seen the pictures of the
> devastation and tragedy that has struck millions. To assist with
> the massive relief effort in the country, OPEN chapters in Boston,
> New York, Silicon Valley and Washington D.C. will be working
> closely with reputable charity organizations on the ground in
> Pakistan.
> You can help us in four areas:
>
> 1. $5M of emergency drugs to Pakistan:
> We have an urgent request to raise $25,000 to support the
> delivery of emergency drugs in Pakistan. One of OPEN Charter
> Members has arranged for the delivery of $5MM of emergency drugs
> from Americare. Americare works with LIFE US
> (; 501c3 organization) to deliver drugs to
> the affected areas. LIFE US needs $25K ASAP to transport drugs
> from Islamabad to remote areas in Azad Kashmir and NWFP. I am
> please to inform you that OPEN-US (Boston, New York, Silicon
> Valley and Washington D.C.) have announced a contribution of $10
> K! We are $15K short and, would like to request you to make a
> donation as soon as possible.
>
> Please visit the following URL to make your donation for this
>
initiative:
> For alternate locations, please write to
>
> Please forward this message to your friends and co-workers.
>
> Thank you very much for your support.
>
> OPEN New York
> http://www.opennewyork.org

Friday, October 14, 2005

Quake unites Sikhs, Hindus, Christians as Pakistanis

MANSEHRA: Radesh Singh, a Pakistani Sikh and his group of Hindu, Christian and Muslim friends have joined forces to help survivors of the devastating earthquake in northern Pakistan.

They hope efforts to provide relief and care would send a clear message of tolerance in the predominantly Muslim Pakistan. “We are here without any religious bias for people who are in dire need of help and care,” Radesh told Reuters in Mansehra, a district in Northwest Frontier Province now in ruins after Saturday’s disaster.

“We are also hoping that our efforts will give out a message that people from different religious backgrounds and communities can live peacefully together and help each other,” he said. An estimated 96 percent of Pakistan’s population are Muslim, about 1.7 percent are Christian and some 2.0 percent are Hindu, while others account0 for less than 0.5 percent.

Minorities in Pakistan have been targeted by Islamic militants recently. Just last week there was a bomb attack on a religious centre of the Ahmadiyya sect in the central province of Punjab that killed eight and wounded more than a dozen.

Radesh, who runs his own business in the province’s capital, Peshawar, came with a truckload of medicines, blankets, clothing and dry food mustered by his Sikh friends Rajinder and Ranjit Singh, Hindus Prakash and Diyaram and Emmanuel, a Christian. “It is simply an effort on our parts for the earthquake victims, who are in dire need of help. We have come here as human beings not as Sikhs, Christians, Hindus or Muslims,” Ranjit said. Rajinder and his Sikh friends were born in Peshawar and say they are Pakistanis first, second and last. “I even ran for the local bodies elections this time but lost,” Rajinder said. On Wednesday night they were faced with a different kind of problem. Having heard of incidents of looting of private relief vehicles and violence in badly hit areas, Rajinder and his friends stopped over in Mansehra, saying he and his friends wanted to distribute the goods under the supervision of the army.

“We just want these goods to reach the deserving people. We have come here as human beings and don’t want to get involved in any violent incidents,” Emanuel said. reuters


http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005 10 14 story_14-10-2005_pg7_39

Just received this email:

The Richter scale is logarithmic in nature and an increase of one magnitude unit represents an amplitude of ten times. The seismic waves of 6 are ten times greater than of 5. However in terms of energy release a scale of 6 is more than 31 times than those of 5 scale.

It is essential to understand the above. The waves that will be recorded on the graph will be 10 times more of scale 6 compared to 5, but the energy released will not be 10 times but 31 times. A 7.6 earthquake can cause major damage upto 200 kilometers. It punches an energy equal to 160 million tons of TNT explosives. Hiroshima bomb was just 13 kilotons or 13,000 tons. The 7.6 earthquake we had, punched an energy equal to 12307692 Hiroshima bombs. ( One crore and twenty three lakh Hiroshima bombs)

Support UNICEF`s Emergency Programs in Pakistan



UNICEF`s Emergency Programs in Pakistan

Injuns shudnt b pokin their nose in2 paki affairs. if the pakis feel they r gettin shafted & the gummit iz failing them they can always throw the bums out. oops.

Assalaam O Alaikum

my name is Dr. Bilal Alam and i work at Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad. You all know about the earthquake that has hit our country and caused great devastation. Thousands have lost their lives. Many thousands of people are injured and in critical condition. I work at the hospital which is currently overloaded with patients from Muzaffarabad, Balakot and Mansehra. Everday we receive hundreds of patients who have life threatening injuries. Treatment is currently underway and we are also sending medical teams to the nearby areas of Mansehra and Balakot. We constantly need medical supplies, blankets, clothes, drinking water etc. In order to acheive this, we have set up a fund at our College/Hospital so that people can contribute money and our any other equipment and help us carry out our tasks. All the information is at:

http://www.amcrelief.com

I would request you all to please visit the website where details on how to contribute and give aid are given. Please hurry you could save someone`s life...

Mera Pakistan

#26

ali, as i write, the next article from Ferzana Versey is forthcoming, this topic will be discussed in detail there.

Bina:

As big as this tagedy is, it is also reflective of how it has brought the best in Pakistanis at home and abroad and among Indians as well. We may be children of different gods but are all the same before the forces of nature which does not respect any man made divisions and boundaries.

Let us hope that this spirit of generosity and cooperation lasts.

To rsridhar, Edge and others, you may want to discuss these issues at a later date, talking about anything other than compassion for those suffering at this time is in really poor taste.

re:#12 by southasian
Pakis would look at anything from India with suspicion, even medicines. That is how they are, right from top downwards.
So many more lives could have been saved but for Mushyrat`s stupidity in refusing copters and combined rescue operations. India is next door, flush with vast resources and with experience of dealing with major earthquakes in the past. He refused offer of substantial help from India and took 48 h or more to say all he wants are some blankets and tents! In my world, this is called lunacy and the guy is certifiably mad. Even at this hour, the idiot was only thinking of his image.
My question to this rat is: what is more important, your image or lives of people trapped under the debris?
Sridhar

Re: # 33

Well said. In my world too it is lunacy. But what can one do? I remember at the time of the Gujarat earthquake a few years ago a plane load of life saving aid supplies from Pakistan just stood there because our Indian authorities refused to accept/clear the aid supplies. It was allowed, I think, after four or five days to unload. A full 96 t0 120 hours lapsed between their offer and our acceptance as if the blankets, tents and medicines would write [intelligence] back home! Now I ask you!!

Lunacy? You bet. But what can we do?
Hey, human lives first and politics later!!


[What if the Americans had brokered that one too? It`s scary.]

ONLINE DONATION FOR EDHI AND PRESIDENT`S RELIEF FUND

You can donate to

1) Edhi
2) President`s Relief Fund

at www.DevelopPakistan.org

Your donation is not only tax deductible in US but will also be matched dollar for dollar.

Ali khoosre...perhaps we do not want to help... as far as we are concerned `a good Kashmiri muslim` is a dead kashmiri muslim....as in `a good paki is a dead paki`....bloody islamic terrorists all.

Kashmiri Separatists Dispense Quake Aid

By MATTHEW ROSENBERG, Associated Press Writer 37 minutes ago

JULLA, India - Shaukat Khan hiked across a valley to collect food and supplies he thought were being handed out by authorities. Instead, he found what thousands of others discovered after the earthquake that shattered their villages: the help was coming from Kashmiri separatists on the Indian side of the disputed territory.

``We are the ones who are here with blood, with food, with medicines — the people can see that,`` said Yasin Malik, leader of the separatist Jammu and
Kashmir and Liberation Front.

It`s an aid effort that has not gone unnoticed in a land sharply opposed to Indian rule amid a 15-year insurgency that has claimed more than 66,000 lives, mostly civilians.

The Islamic rebel groups say they are only trying to help the needy but admit with some satisfaction that the tragedy could end up boosting their cause to wrest the bitterly disputed Himalayan region from mostly Hindu India.

Kashmir, a largely Muslim land, was a protectorate under British rule that remained nominally independent after the creation of India and Pakistan in a bloody partition of the subcontinent following independence in 1947.

Within a year, the two neighbors began a war that left India with two-thirds of the region and Muslim Pakistan controlling the remainder. Both now claim it in its entirety.

Within hours of the quake that devastated towns and villages on Saturday, separatists had started up what three days on remains the most visible aid operation in Indian Kashmir.

``No one else is giving the people as much as we are giving,`` said Hidayat-Ullah Sheikh of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a leading separatist alliance.

In mountainside villages, members of the two separatist groups have been handing out everything from milk to medicine as the Indian government and army have faltered in their relief efforts.

Malik said his group also has begun working with Pakistani counterparts on the other side of the heavily militarized frontier — an artificial division of the beautiful region known for its apple orchards, gardens and azure lakes.

``In some ways the separatist groups have won round one with their initial aid effort,`` said W.P.S. Sidhu, a Kashmir expert with the Geneva Center for Security Policy, a think tank based in the Swiss city.

``If the Indian establishment stays aloof and lets the separatists take initiatives ... then I think the Indian state would have done itself irreversible damage,`` he said in a telephone interview.

For men like Malik, the quake has exposed the fiction of Kashmir`s division — the two sides have shared a culture, language and religion for centuries. Today, they share a tragedy and, as far as the separatists are concerned, a relief effort.

``There are no Pakistanis or Indians here, just Kashmiris,`` he said on his way out to the Uri valley, a border region that was the worst hit part of India in the quake.

The idea of a single Kashmir is a long-cherished dream of many residents, and dozens of groups have openly campaigned for independence or a merger with Pakistan since the 1950s. Unarmed separatist groups enjoy broad support even if violent militant groups do not.

The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front also has an operational wing in Muzzaffarabad on the Pakistani side of the border and has strong ties with people there, as do other separatist groups, including some components of the Hurriyat.

The results of that struggle are clear in Indian Kashmir today, with at least half a million Indian troops peering at civilians from sandbagged bunkers, patrolling streets in green camouflage vehicles or plotting strategies in garrisons dotting the state. Dozens of soldiers on both sides were killed in the quake.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and aiding the Kashmiri militants, a charge denied by Islamabad, which says it only gives moral support. The Kashmir dispute is central to the enmity between the two nuclear rivals, which has eased recently with a two-year-old peace process.

Analysts say the strong showing by separatist groups in the aftermath of the quake also could help win them a role in the peace process from which they have so far been largely excluded.

India and Pakistan will have to ``take them more seriously ... listen to them and have them as participants in the process,`` said Mohammed Tariq, a Kashmiri political analyst.

The separatists are showing that they ``are part of Kashmir — they can`t be ignored,`` he said.

Similar situations have had mixed results. Faced with unprecedented death and destruction after the Dec. 26 tsunami, separatist rebels in the Indonesian province of Aceh and the government agreed to stop fighting and forged a peace accord.

Tamil Tiger rebels and the Sinhalese government also worked together to help shelter and feed survivors in Sri Lanka after the earthquake and killer waves last year. But their peace was short-lived: the Tamil Tigers last month assassinated the country`s foreign minister.

The brunt of the quake in India hit the fortified Uri valley, forcing authorities to throw open an area that for years has been largely off-limits to outsiders for security reasons.

That has given separatists bearing aid a chance to enter an area and burnish their leadership credentials.

``The separatists must feel that the situation will broaden their support base,`` said Ahmad Hussain, a political analyst and human rights activist.

For Khan, who hiked for half a day after hearing about the food handouts from a neighbor, the assistance from the separatists came as a surprise.

``Why are the soldiers not giving us what we need?`` he asked, pointing to some troops who stood by as blankets and rice were distributed.

Edge #1 is right. For him/her indeed ``its business as usual``. Read on! Don`t believe it? Read #2!!

Isn`t it refereshing though that such edges are only in ones or twos out there? And they will smell soon too, the coffee.

edge,

would you stop spiting hatered against pakistan, dont you have any compassion for ppl in suffering plz try to take control over your emotions for a while and do something to help the ppl in trouble.

i have just came back from PAF base relief camp and its just comendable to see how ppl are contributing towards the cause, i have registered myself for volunteers to go up north to distribute stuff and help in rescue missions.

May Allah help us all in this hour of need.