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A rescue worker with a sniffer dog searches for survivors among the debris in Islamabad. (Reuters).
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WASHINGTON,
October 10, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Islamic
charities in the United States have issued urgent appeals for
donations to help victims of the devastating earthquake that battered
South Asia, boasting prompt response.
"We've
raised 100,000 dollars online in less than 24 hours," Arif Shaikh,
a spokesman for the international charity Islamic Relief US branch,
told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
Islamic
Relief,
which has launched a 10 million dollar appeal, operates a health
clinic in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir that has treated some 2,000
people.
Between
30,000 and 40,000 people were killed in an earthquake measuring 7.6 on
the Richter scale that centered on an area north of Islamabad, wiping
entire towns off the map in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir and burying
victims in tombs of mud and rubble, according to Pakistani and
international officials.
Pakistan
called it the worst disaster in its history as the casualty toll
continued to rise.
Shaikh
said non-governmental organizations in the United States had asked the
charity to deliver donations of medicine and medical supplies to
affected areas.
Islamic
Relief has three full-time offices in Islamabad, Neelum Valley, and
Muzaffarabad, near areas hardest hit by the disaster.
"Our
staff is on the ground conducting a needs-assessment," Shaikh
said.
Islamic
Relief has worked in Pakistan since 1992 on emergency relief,
development and disaster preparedness projects.
Its
work is heavily focused on the areas that have been badly affected by
the new disaster, including Muzaffarabad and Bagh where Islamic Relief
has several projects.
More
Donations
The
Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)
said on its Web site it was donating 250,000 dollars to the relief
effort and had sent the head of its relief operations to Pakistan.
The
Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the
main Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, called on American
Muslims and other people of conscience to help the quake victims.
"Just
as Americans came together to help the victims of recent Gulf Coast
hurricanes, we must do whatever we can to help those suffering from
natural disasters in other parts of the world," CAIRO spokesman
Ibrahim Hooper said in a press release posted on the group's Web site.
He
said those wishing to help should direct contributions to the Muslim
Hurricane Relief Task Force (
MHRTF),
a group formed by US Islamic charities after Hurricane Katrina struck
the southern US coast in August.
Official
Aid
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"Is there anyone who can help us, relieve us from this misery?" said one survivor in Balakot. (Reuters).
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Moving
quickly to tighten its bonds with a key ally, the US said Sunday it
was allocating up to 50 million dollars for initial aid to Pakistan.
It
has also dispatched two disaster response teams, which were expected
in Pakistan on Monday.
White
House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said the assets were being made
available in response to a request from President Pervez Musharraf and
the Pakistan government, which has asked for emergency shelter, food,
water, medical supplies, transportation assets, and emergency
management personnel.
"The
destruction and loss of life in Pakistan is massive, and the United
States is responding rapidly and robustly," McClellan said.
"We
will continue to coordinate with the government of Pakistan to assess
needs."
US
President George W. Bush met Sunday with a Pakistani envoy, heard a
detailed account of the disaster and received a list of Pakistan's
most pressing needs.
"Pakistan's
a friend, and the United States government and the people of the
United States will help as best as we possibly can," Bush told
reporters after the talks.
On
the civilian side, the US Agency for International Development
announced a one-million-dollar aid package to be provided through the
American Red Cross.
This
amount was to supplement 100,000 dollars in aid announced Saturday by
the US Embassy in Islamabad, the officials said.
Multitude
of Problems
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An aerial view of the main road linking Islamabad and Muzaffarabad that has been blocked after landslides following the earthquake.
(Reuters).
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Freezing
overnight temperatures, driving rain, deadly landslides, scarce food,
little shelter and no communications networks -- earthquake survivors
face many problems as they wait for help.
Most
of the villages hardest-hit by the temblor are nestled on
hard-to-reach forested slopes in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir in the
Himalaya mountains, where winter is fast approaching.
"It's
been very difficult at this stage to gauge the scale of the disaster
because there are enormous logistical difficulties getting up into the
north," said Andrew MacLeod of the UN's Disaster Assessment and
Coordination (UNDAC) team.
MacLeod
said only one road into the area was open.
"It's
not just doing the assessments and finding out what the problems are
and where the people are that need help. It's getting the assistance
there."
Muzaffarabad,
the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, sits on a bluff where two
rivers join, nestled at the bottom of the steep, heavily forested
Kashmir valley and overlooked by a large peak, Pir Chunasi.
The
city, where more than 11,000 people are confirmed dead, is linked to
the outside world only by two twisting roads which climb out of the
valley -- both believed to have been either blocked or destroyed by
quake-induced landslides.
The
shattered town of Balakot is on similar terrain -- verdant slopes
rising sharply from a raging river -- making relief efforts there an
enormous challenge.
"People
don't have tools or anything. It's such a disaster," Jan-Peter
Stellema, who works for the international aid charity Medecins sans
Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) in the village of Lamnian,
told the BBC.
"Bringing
aid by road is not possible. By donkey or by mule might be possible,
but air operations are definitely necessary," he said by
satellite telephone -- which he said was the only means of
communication in the valley.
"We
survived the earthquake but now we realize we will die of hunger and
cold, said Mohammad Zaheer, a survivor in Balakot.
"Is
there anyone who can help us, relieve us from this misery?"
