Natural disasters often surprise even the best equipped nations, but countries like Pakistan tend to aggravate the problem by simply leaving rescue efforts to good luck rather than good management
The earthquake that jolted Pakistan on Oct 8, 2005 has left the whole nation in a state of disbelief, fear and in a desperate frenzy to reach out to the unreachable.
It has been a year of natural disasters. Tsunami heralded the start of the year, then hurricanes flooded the American coasts, and now an earthquake flattens towns to extinction in Pakistan. The earthquake that hit Pakistan on October 8, 2005 was nerve-wracking. Its geographical aftershocks continued for days but its psychological aftershocks will continue for decades. As the nightmarish shock waves reverberated in Islamabad, Lahore, Abottabad, Mansehra, and Muzaffarabad, the utter helplessness of the situation exposed how little education and information we have both at national and individual levels as to how to cope with natural disasters. As we hear and read stories after tragic stories of children being trapped under the rubble, elders crashing down the stairs, and youngsters being razed to the ground, it raises questions as to whether there can be any method to the madness which befalls upon victims of this horrific disaster.
FRAGMENTED AND BROKEN: The quake struck Pakistan around 8.56am local time on the morning of October 8, triggering landslides in the hilly regions, which firstly flattened homes, schools, offices and hospitals to the ground, and then blocked rescuers from coming in on roads which got buried under the mud avalanches. Among the cities, Islamabad was the worst affected as huge waves of the earth threatened to burst open many of the not-so-firm apartment buildings. Islamabad — and to a lesser degree Lahore — were saved from massive damage as they were away from the epicentre and had more concrete structures. But cities like Muzaffarabad and Mansehra with their flimsy structures disappeared from the face of the earth as the giant earth waves overturned all hills and mountains upside down. People going about their work and children studying in schools were crushed under the rumbling mountains, falling roofs and crumbling walls, with nobody to hear their last cries and no hope for help arriving in time to rescue those who had somehow managed to survive under the rubble.
The earthquake flattened dozens of villages, killing farmers, homemakers, soldiers and schoolchildren. It was followed by 140 aftershocks - 22 of magnitude between four and 6.2 scale — at regular intervals 36 hours after the main quake, further scaring terrified victims. Thousands of survivors were left without shelter in near-freezing nighttime temperatures, their misery exacerbated in several places by heavy rain.
The death toll in the deadly earthquake, the worst disaster in Pakistan’s history, crossed 40,000 within three days. Rescuers struggled to reach remote, mountainous areas and stricken residents of a devastated city scavenged for food and gasoline, a day after the massive earthquake struck Pakistan, wiping out villages, severing transportation links and knocking out power and water supply. In dozens of villages, many cut off from rescuers by quake-induced landslides, relatives desperate to find their loved ones dug through the rubble with their bare hands, only to extract parts of bodies not really in conditions identifiable. In Islamabad, a 10-storey building known as Margalla Towers collapsed. Mothers lost their children and children lost their parents. The lack of knowledge of how to remove rubble and how to rescue people trapped inside was probably responsible for causing more casualties than the normal count.
As time passed these unfortunate affectees found to their horror that no relief was in sight as relief operations were slow, sporadic and irrelevant. Helicopters and C-130 transport planes took troops and supplies to some damaged areas but most areas remained ghost towns as people realized that self help was the only form of survival. There was no sign of government help in Balakot and Muzaffarabad. The quake levelled the towns’ main bazaars, crushing shoppers and gas cylinders on the streets. Injured people covered by shawls lay on the streets waiting for medical care; residents carried bodies on wooden planks; corpses of children, lay under a sheet of corrugated iron, yet no rescue teams reached in time.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT: As was visible in Hurricane Katrina, in a natural disaster not even the best equipped and developed nations can respond effectively to the magnitude of a crushing natural calamity. Similarly, the state of affairs in Pakistan have also exposed that a natural disaster in an underdeveloped country simply leaves rescue efforts to good luck more than good management. The government is reacting with typical confusion and chaos where it seems to have very little idea of the extent of damage and the type of response needed to stem the damage. The president and prime minister have been giving statements of trying their best to cope with the disaster but very little seems to be done to evaluate the damage and make an emergency disaster management plan and strategy. From an estimate of a few thousands on the first day, the government has found itself struggling to keep up with geometrical rise in the casualties.
They have asked for financial and equipment help from the international community but have so far not been seeking help for disaster management advise from international experts. As we have seen that in such disasters, time management is crucial as you can save many lives if you know what your priorities are. Unfortunately, the immediate response has been ineffective and inefficient. The government has set up a relief fund, set up an emergency relief commission, has declared three days mourning, and heads of the country have taken aerial view and some ground visits of the affected areas. All these may be the right steps in their own merit, but are they the immediate steps which are needed to counter a disaster of such a nature? Not really. Rescue efforts need to be the priority. Admitted that the links to these towns through roads have been severed due to the damaged roads, and agreed that the telecommunication links are distorted, but there are ways of reaching these places either by helicopters or by walking over the landslides. But it seems that the typical government bureaucracy has overtaken the urgency to act in an all out manner.
The fund collection drive of the government has also followed the stale and typical pattern witnessed in the past. A relief fund has been established and a month’s worth salaries of our dear ministers have been donated to it. The president “magnanimously” donated a hundred thousand rupees to the fund, but when he realized that he had created an uproar by his petty contribution, hastened to correct it by saying that each of his five family members will donate a hundred thousand to the fund — a pittance for a family which is capable of donating at least ten times more. The prime minister perhaps feels that one-month salary-cut is more than enough for his contribution.
PUBLIC RESPONSE: Pakistanis are a generous nation with one of the highest philanthropic contributions in the world, and in this time of tragedy they have proved once again that they are ready to donate to causes which are true and trustworthy. It is absolutely inspiring to see people from Khyber to Karachi pour out their contributions to the victims and donating both cash and kind in huge amounts. Every class, race and culture has come forward to collect eatables, clothing and every other item imaginable for the victims. What is heartening to see is that they have not relied on the government machinery but arranged their own trucks and transport and send their own people along with relief items to ensure that they reach the right people at the right time.
MEDIA RESPONSE: The media coverage has been extensive and timely but many times repetitive and not quite productive. As TV channels scramble for viewership, the urge to show what attracts viewership has got the better of many reporting assignments. The international media like the BBC, the CNN etc have constantly captioned the disaster as “earthquake in South Asia” when India and Bangladesh have hardly been touched by this disaster compared to Pakistan. Most of these channels have been busy trying to extract a political angle of this event by raising irrelevant debates on whether joint India-Pakistan military rescue operations will take place, rather than concentrating on providing advise on how such disasters can be handled.
The local media has been openly critical of the late response of the government but has so far been totally obsessed with reporting the incidence rather than suggesting what needs to be done. The most glaring omission at all levels of communication, whether through print or broadcast media, has been on an awareness campaign for the general public on how to prepare themselves before, during and after the earthquake. The complete lack of focus on this aspect has probably been responsible for many more deaths than would have been the case if people knew how to react to an earthquake and were aware of what they should be doing during and after it to increase their chances of survival. It is absolutely necessary to educate the people who have survived on how to cope with the situation themselves and then develop a simple instruction kit of what to do to help themselves and those still trapped. These instructions with the help of loudspeakers and radio programmes in local languages are imperative to prevent further damage and to help save lives of those who are still reachable. It is high time that the media now moved on and worked on developing an awareness campaign which could teach the public the basics of what to do during an earthquake.
For example, the media must come up with constructive criticism, and instead of just berating everything and everybody, collect the necessary expertise from various panel experts and develop a debate posing various suggestions as to how to handle the disaster and how to develop a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for the four million people who have lost their homes, their families, their livelihoods and probably their minds and sanity after going through this unimaginable trauma.
CONCLUSION: The government must wake up to this national tragedy. It is hard to understand the priorities of each successive government that we have been blessed with. Their inability to prioritize between the urgent and important has cost the nation precious lives and resources. Thus, it is understandable how a government, which prides itself on nuclear capability and military expertise, suddenly becomes impotent the moment a disaster strikes the nation. It is time for the government to realize that security of a nation does not come with making lethal nuclear bombs and buying obsolete F-16s, but with focusing on creating social, economic and geographical safety nets for their people and by making strategies to provide protection against disasters, crimes, injustice, inequality and indignity. In this need of hour the nation has risen to unite together; may our political leaders and bureaucracy also follow suit and for once we prove to the world that Pakistanis are a proud nation capable of turning the impossible to possible. Amen.
The earthquake that jolted Pakistan on Oct 8, 2005 has left the whole nation in a state of disbelief, fear and in a desperate frenzy to reach out to the unreachable.
The earthquake flattened dozens of villages, killing farmers, homemakers, soldiers and schoolchildren. It was followed by 140 aftershocks - 22 of magnitude between four and 6.2 scale — at regular intervals 36 hours after the main quake, further scaring terrified victims. Thousands of survivors were left without shelter in near-freezing nighttime temperatures, their misery exacerbated in several places by heavy rain.
As time passed these unfortunate affectees found to their horror that no relief was in sight as relief operations were slow, sporadic and irrelevant. Helicopters and C-130 transport planes took troops and supplies to some damaged areas but most areas remained ghost towns as people realized that self help was the only form of survival. There was no sign of government help in Balakot and Muzaffarabad. The quake levelled the towns’ main bazaars, crushing shoppers and gas cylinders on the streets. Injured people covered by shawls lay on the streets waiting for medical care; residents carried bodies on wooden planks; corpses of children, lay under a sheet of corrugated iron, yet no rescue teams reached in time.
They have asked for financial and equipment help from the international community but have so far not been seeking help for disaster management advise from international experts. As we have seen that in such disasters, time management is crucial as you can save many lives if you know what your priorities are. Unfortunately, the immediate response has been ineffective and inefficient. The government has set up a relief fund, set up an emergency relief commission, has declared three days mourning, and heads of the country have taken aerial view and some ground visits of the affected areas. All these may be the right steps in their own merit, but are they the immediate steps which are needed to counter a disaster of such a nature? Not really. Rescue efforts need to be the priority. Admitted that the links to these towns through roads have been severed due to the damaged roads, and agreed that the telecommunication links are distorted, but there are ways of reaching these places either by helicopters or by walking over the landslides. But it seems that the typical government bureaucracy has overtaken the urgency to act in an all out manner.
MEDIA RESPONSE: The media coverage has been extensive and timely but many times repetitive and not quite productive. As TV channels scramble for viewership, the urge to show what attracts viewership has got the better of many reporting assignments. The international media like the BBC, the CNN etc have constantly captioned the disaster as “earthquake in South Asia” when India and Bangladesh have hardly been touched by this disaster compared to Pakistan. Most of these channels have been busy trying to extract a political angle of this event by raising irrelevant debates on whether joint India-Pakistan military rescue operations will take place, rather than concentrating on providing advise on how such disasters can be handled.
