|
|
|
| October 15, 2005 | Saturday | Ramzan 10, 1426 |
No shortage of aid, but misery persists
MUZAFFARABAD, Oct 14: It appears to be a case of adding insult to injury. Unknown people are intercepting truckloads of relief items along the roads leading to Muzaffarabad, taking away whatever they can lay their hands on pretending to be the real victims of the earthquake.
Locals believe some of them have come from outside the region, but few belong to Muzaffarabad also. In one case, a single man ran away with 50 blankets, which were meant to reach one of the major relief camps in the valley.
Also, many jewellery shops have been ransacked and gold has been looted. The looting mob once even pelted the local police with stones when they tried to properly distribute aid.
Despite the fact that there is no shortage of in-coming aid, and volunteers are pouring in from all parts of the country, relief items are hardly reaching those who are in dire need.
The air around the University Ground in Muzaffarabad is filled with the stench of decomposing corpses. No substantial efforts have so far been made to remove the rubble and dig up the dead or, if any, survivors. It is believed that there are bodies of many students and teachers trapped under the debris.
Muzaffarabad has turned into a ghost town. But in spite of many casualties, there are injured people alive in the outlying areas and on the mountains surrounding the valley. Their loved ones find it difficult to bring them down from the mountains to relief camps and then go back up to their damaged abodes. Volunteers are required in big numbers to help the injured in the outlying areas. Though many doctors from Karachi and some other parts of Pakistan have reached Mansehra, where they’ve set up field hospitals and even operation theatres, the need for volunteers who can help the people on the mountains is being felt. They are treating the injured on an emergency basis.
According to volunteers, international aid is yet to reach the valley. Whatever is coming in is being brought from different parts of the country.
|
|
|
|
