As you grow old, Eids, birthdays, anniversaries become a “right to enjoy” only for youngsters while you yourself want to stay home and relax over the long holidays. Celebrations simply take too much energy and time which the youngsters seem to have more of. Special occasions don’t always bring happiness to all people as the memories that accompany them can be painful.
And so was the case this time in many homes this Eid. The countless who have lost their loved ones and all that they had in the devastating earthquake had little to celebrate. The devastation in the northern areas has left the Islooties traumatized. The catastrophe has melted many a hearts of the people who simply refused to celebrate eid this time. In the morning on Eid day, Fateha was offered near the site of the collapsed Margalla Towers to pay homage to the lives lost when the building fell.
Instead of paying visits to friends and families, the islooties were seen queuing for hospitals, crises centres and tent villages established in different parts of Islamabad. They were not empty handed — boxes of gifts, chocolates, brand new clothes, shoes and white envelops with eidis could be seen with hands full as they were roaming around in different wards and corridors of the shelter homes. No one was ready to spend the day without contributing. One feels really proud to be a Pakistani when witnessing the enthusiasm of the town.
The Head of the State did his bit too as President Musharraf and his wife Sehba Mushraff flew to Muzaffarabad and Balakot on Eid day, and met many people, amongst them a newly-married couple as well. As for the relief workers and volunteers, although they were offered off days on the Eid holidays, but they preferred not to come home as it would have stopped the flow of relief work going on, as the pace had now just built up.
The earthquake has been termed as a children’s catastrophe. Dazed, shocked, bewildered, traumatized, scores of children are still lying in the hospitals with broken limbs, head injuries, scars on the face, broken spines, etc. “Children are very sensitive. They have a limited capacity to think. They live in a vary small world of their own. If that world is effected they become fearful, panicky and under stress. These children have been eye witness to a trauma, having seen their little world shattered in no time. In post-traumatic stress disorder, a child keeps on reliving what he saw or has been through. They develop phobias, are anxious, irritable, cranky and fearful,” comments Dr Rizwan Taj, Professor Psychiatry, Pakistan Institute of Medial Sciences.
Moreover, Dr Rizwan feels, a hospital is the last place a child would want to be. “These children are in wards where they are exposed to all types of patients with different kinds of injuries amid cries. They need counselling.”
As children need more time to open up and talk, they need to express themselves in some other way, such as writing, painting, drawing, etc. Time is a great healer. The best thing with children is their tremendous recovery potential, which is much more than that of adults,” he adds.
Immunization in full swing
“Measles is one of the greatest threats to child survival in emergency situation, especially when their immune system has been weakened by exposure and malnutrition,” says Dr Rehan Hafeez, National Manager Immunization Ministry of Health, GoP.
“Preventing disease outbreak in the affected areas is a critical factor. At Muzaffarabad’s Abbas Hospital, a tent has been set up for measles and tetanus vaccination to attend to the queue of mothers and fathers carrying young children on their shoulders,” says Jeffery Bates of UNICEF Pakistan.
A massive campaign targeting four million children under the age of 15 years for measles vaccination is now underway. Hundreds of UNICEF outreach teams are moving out from towns of Muzaffarabad and Mansehra to the outlying villages to immuneize children, plus give them Vitamin A supplement. Measles vaccination is progressing rapidly and has also started in the remote Allai valley in NWFP. More than 300,000 children have been vaccinated so far during this immunization campaign which is going on at full speed.
According to official reports, the death toll has risen to 89,000 and the number of injured is ‘close to 100,000’. With relief efforts hampered by deteriorating weather conditions, the death toll is expected to rise.
With winter approaching fast in the higher elevations, children are facing a potentially deadly combination of cold, malnutrition and disease. Shelter, nutrition and health care for children must be a priority in the relief efforts. Between 1.6 to 2.2 million children are severely affected (homeless) by this tragedy and they are expected to be the worst suffers of this tragedy.
As you grow old, Eids, birthdays, anniversaries become a “right to enjoy” only for youngsters while you yourself want to stay home and relax over the long holidays. Celebrations simply take too much energy and time which the youngsters seem to have more of. Special occasions don’t always bring happiness to all people as the memories that accompany them can be painful.
