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| October 22, 2005 | Saturday | Ramzan 17, 1426 |
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Quake victims & trauma
Burning of corpses
Earthquake lessons from China
HAVING experienced the worst earthquake of one’s life, and then learnt of the tragic details of widespread destruction, and the loss of precious lives in areas close to the epicentre, one cannot but feel deep sympathy for the close to three million countrymen, whose homes have been destroyed.
EVEN though it is a difficult task, one should welcome Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa’s visit to Iraq to help effect reconciliation among its various parties, factions and ethnic groups. Iraq today is a country divided as never before. The end of the Baathist regime has not led to peace and freedom but to chaos and bloodletting on an unprecedented scale. Violence flows basically from two sources. First, the suicide bombers, whose victims are mostly Iraqi civilians. The resistance, no doubt, is fighting the US-led foreign troops but its targets also include Iraqi government institutions and those whom it sees as collaborators. That is the reason why the resistance has killed thousands of recruits and policemen who are part of the Iraqi government’s security apparatus. Second, the foreign troops are merciless in their handling of resistance fighters. Heavy civilian casualties often result from the occupation forces’ hunt for real or imagined militants in a given area. In that process civilian areas are bombed and the sanctity of homes is violated. These are, however, tragedies stemming from military action; an equally galling tragedy — the one that could break up Iraq — is political.
Because of the long period of dictatorship, Iraq does not have recognized political parties representing all sections of the country’s multi-lingual, multi-ethnic population. All one reads about in newspapers are ethnic and sectarian denominations — Shias, Sunnis and Kurds. Theoretically, there are parties which claim to represent all elements of Iraq’s polyglot population, but they are not really national in character. The result is that the political scene is dominated by regional parties and politicians pursuing ethnic and parochial lines. Only the Kurdish parties are well known, basically because they have been struggling against Baghdad — whosever the ruler — for decades. In the Shia south one hears of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and cleric Moqtada al-Sadar, but a recognized Shia party having a national following does not exist. As for the ‘Sunni triangle’, no single leader or party can be considered as the authentic voice of Iraq’s Sunnis. Instead, the Jordanian-born Abu Musab Zarqawi, with close links to Al Qaeda, is heading the resistance.
Yet, in spite of this bleak scenario, there has been definite progress towards representative government. In January, the people voted to elect a transitional assembly to draft a constitution. Then last Saturday, the Iraqis went to the booths again to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the proposed basic law. In both cases, the turn-out was 60 per cent, and the constitution, according to unofficial results, has been approved by the people. Another vote is to take place in December to elect a parliament. It is against such a background that the AL secretary-general is trying what observers say is a near-impossible job. The main task before him is to persuade the Sunni leadership to join the democratic process. If the present level of violence continues and the political process is aborted, Iraq could then face dismemberment. The Kurds have joined hands with the Shias to keep the political process going. Its success will enable them to gain an equal status with the Arabs — a position previously denied to them. On the other hand, if the political process fails and Iraq descends into anarchy the Kurds might then opt for an independent Kurdistan. This will not only dismember Iraq but also have wider repercussions because of the Iranian and Turkish sensitivity on the issue. Let us hope Mr Moussa succeeds.
WHILE the pace may have picked up for providing medical treatment to the earthquake survivors for their physical injuries, an equally daunting task is helping them cope with the ill-effects on their mental health. International experts have already said that a major crisis could be on our hands on this score because Pakistan does not have enough psychiatrists and counsellors to cope with the need given the number of survivors so affected. Close to four million have been displaced and most of them must have lost one or more immediate family members in the terrible tragedy. Most must also be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and will need professional psychiatric help and counselling to lead a normal life in the future. PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that occurs following experiencing life-threatening situations such as the Oct. 8 earthquake. The hundreds of aftershocks that have followed the main disaster — some of them quite terrifying — only compound this disorder because survivors, especially children, are at a loss to understand why their torment is not coming to an end and they keep on reliving the initial deadly experience.
In most cases, PTSD sufferers tend to relive the initial experience through nightmares and flashbacks. Symptoms include difficulty in sleeping and a feeling of disenchantment and disorientation. If not treated in time and properly, the symptoms can be severe enough to mar a survivor’s life by impairing his or her ability to function in a social or family setting. In addition, having PTSD can lead to other psychological disorders. It also needs to be kept in mind that the societal and institutional support normally available to PTSD sufferers in the form of a caring home or family is going to be mostly absent in the case of the quake survivors — and that may make treatment all the more difficult. However, PTSD can be treated and its symptoms kept in check through a combination of therapy and expert counselling. Clearly there are not enough psychiatrists or counsellors in the country to do the job. Help must be sought in this matter from the World Health Organization as well as friendly nations aiding the relief work.
ONCE again the US military is back in the dock for its reported abuses and is scrambling to counter any anti-American backlash that is bound to ensue. Hot on the heels of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and allegations that US military desecrated copies of the Holy Quran in Guantanamo Bay comes Thursday’s news that US troops set on fire the bodies two Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. This act — caught on videotape and broadcast on an Australian network — shows how blatantly US soldiers ignore terms of the Geneva Conventions which clearly state that soldiers must ensure that the dead are “honourably interred, if possible, according to the rites of [their] religion”. One soldier is shown using a loudspeaker to taunt locals: “You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing the west and burned” — a clear indication that Islamic burial traditions were being ridiculed. Another soldier describes the Taliban as “lady boys” and “cowardly dogs”. The US defence department has said it will investigate the matter while President Hamid Karzai has said his government will conduct its own investigation — but that may not quell the anger. Mr Karzai has publicly complained of aggressive search tactics employed by US troops in the past and the new aberration further damages America’s reputation in Afghanistan.
The US government has already instructed its embassies abroad to tell local governments that the abuses do not reflect American policies. But as the world watches such horrendous acts, it becomes increasingly difficult to swallow the official line. If the US administration is sincere in winning over the Muslim world, it must ensure that rogue elements in the military are given exemplary punishment. It also makes it even more necessary to pay heed to some US senators who have called for Congress to pass laws to regulate methods used in questioning and prosecuting detainees.
There has been a spontaneous and generous nationwide response to alleviate their suffering. Pakistan had also experienced unprecedented floods during the summer, and is now confronting a bigger calamity, in which the known death toll is approaching 50,000. This is likely to grow as contact is established with dozens of remote villages in the mountainous terrain.
As the UN under secretary-general John Egeland, who handles disasters, observed, the October 8 earthquake constitutes a bigger challenge than the tsunami of December 2004, that hit the coastal areas of several countries along the Indian Ocean.
As the experience of the tsunami of December 2004 and hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the US have shown, there is almost invariably a time lag between a natural disaster and a coordinated and adequate response to it. The October 8 earthquake not only struck an economically backward region, but the terrain presented serious challenges in a mountainous region for gaining access to stricken villages. All things considered, both the government and the people have not only responded speedily, but have shown commitment and generosity in assisting the people of the stricken area.
While one is gratified over the national spirit and humanitarian concern that makes one feel proud of being a Pakistani, there are certain indications that reflect greed, and a desire to profit from this terrible calamity. The Cost of shrouds zoomed upwards, as did charges for transportation of relief goods. If the past is any guide, one has reason to fear that the phase of medium and long term reconstruction may well witness widespread bureaucratic delays, as well as corruption in the utilization of the massive finances available.
The present government has demonstrated not only a sense of urgency in responding to the disaster, but has sought to create a whole administrative infrastructure, with the army playing a crucial role in coordinating the first phase of relief and rescue. With the advent of winter in many quake-hit areas, the emphasis is on providing shelter to the millions whose homes have been destroyed together with warm clothing blankets, food and water. As a high percentage of the affectees have been injured by the collapsing structures medical facilities are equally necessary. These are being provided by civilian volunteers and foreign teams.
There is no doubt that considerable resources and long-term planning would be required for the task of reconstruction that may go on for years. The writer wishes to draw attention to a calamity of comparable proportions that had struck the Hefei province, north of Beijing in China, in July 1976, with its epicentre close to the industrial city of Tangshan that had a population of nearly 800,000.
The Chinese foreign ministry arranged a diplomatic tour of Tangshan in 1983, to enable all heads of mission to see the kind of damage caused by an earthquake of the same magnitude as the one that struck north Pakistan and Kashmir, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale.
The earthquake struck just before 4 am, when the sprawling industrial city was asleep inside their single-story houses. The result was the highest death toll of any earthquake in the
20th century — an estimated 240,000.
China in mid-1976 was at the tail-end of the cultural revolution that pushed it backwards economically, as Mao’s red guards were reviving communist austerity, and for a period, even physically destroyed any manifestations of prosperous living. China’s economic situation was fairly poor, and there was no affluent middle class produced by the economic miracle since 1978.
One quality which the Chinese have always had, specially when facing a national challenge, is that of unity and cohesion. Relief goods from all parts of the country were sent to Tangshan, mostly by train, though road transport was also used. China’s international relationships had suffered during the decade of the cultural revolution, so that foreign assistance was limited, though Chinese communities in South East Asia did make a substantial contribution.
Doctors and medical staff from many areas were moblized, and supplies of foodstuffs and clothing assured. As it was summer, shelter did not present a major problem, and tents were provided to those whose houses had collapsed. A special city task force coordinated the relief work, with inputs from the provincial and central government.
The foreign diplomats saw Tangshan seven years after the catastrophic earthquake of 1976. By this time, most of Tangshan had been rebuilt, with multi-storied apartment blocks lining two-lane boulevards. One area containing single storied houses of the pre-earthquake era was preserved as a memento of that period.
By 1983, Tangshan had recovered its industrial importance, being well-known since several hundred years for its ceramic industry, as well as coal-mining. The population had reached over one million, and the city was playing a leading role in the modernization drive that started in 1978.
Keeping in view the problems Pakistan is likely to face during the phase of reconstruction, I wish to focus on some of the facilities and institutions established after the earthquake. The special body created to coordinate and supervise reconstruction was still in place seven years after the disaster as were several other institutions created at the time. A special earthquake hospital had been set up, to treat people who received serious injuries, or suffered disabilities like partial paralysis, and we saw several elderly patients still receiving treatment and physiotherapy.
There was a large wing for patients with psychological problems, included children who suffered from mental shock or trauma. We were told that the number of those requiring medical assistance was much higher in the beginning but even after seven years, treatment and support was being provided, to a substantial number of youth, and elderly persons. Tangshan had received substantial investment for new industries.
It is reassuring to learn that we in Pakistan also have plans to provide a better life to the large number, exceeding three million, affected by this earthquake. We could learn from the Chinese experience at Tangshan, and to make both medium and long-term plans for the affected people . Above all, foreign aid funds, and large amounts collected to alleviate suffering and rehabilitate the population tend to disappear as they pass from the upper echelons to the people who are actually supposed to benefit.
Let us plan from now that the funds and material contributions meant for the survivors of the earthquake are truly utilized for their welfare and for reconstruction. UN agencies do not dispute the widely held view that 80 per cent of international assistance meant for the poor and the needy ends up in the pockets of administrators, contractors and corrupt officials. Careful monitoring is the answer.