An assessment brief from Nisar Malik (October 22, 2005)

I have now flown to the following areas:

PID (Population in Distress)

My estimates are based on local information and more importantly on those people who are not in the main centers but rather in small pockets in the valleys. You will find much higher figures from other sources, but they include main centers and therefore do not give an idea of the people in the remote areas.

The Kaghan Valley: PID 25,000, Mansehra District
Sharan Valley: PID 15,000, Mansehra District
Kala Dhaka: PID 15,000, Mansehra/Kohistan District
Alai Valley: PID 150,000, Kohistan District
Jabori Valley: PID 20,000, Mansehra District
Gari Habibullah: PID 20,000, Mansehra District
Balakot: PID unavailable due to deaths and movement from the upper valleys, Mansehra District
Muzaffarabad: PID unavailable due to deaths and movement from the upper valleys, Azad Jummu and Kashmir
Siran Valley: PID 25,000, Mansehra District

Mansehra as a city had very few deaths and very superficial damage; Mansehra District has sustained a lot of damage, and Balakot lies in that district.

As the World Food Program (WFP) emergency field adviser, I have identified the Alai Valley as the most neglected at the moment and am hoping to direct WFP flights and aid there by Tuesday.

Walkabout Development Solutions (WDS) is gearing up to assist in evacuations and stopgap support (while the people are geared up to leave the valley on foot) in the Kaghan Valley. We have personal contacts there and also have people on the ground in the form of locals who work with us on a regular basis, supporting our film unit. This helps us have direct and real access to the people and what their needs are.

I have made recommendations to supply very basic shelter (plastic sheets), short-term food and help with transport to the lower valley (40 Km from Naran) so that able-bodied people can walk over the blocked road section (11 Kms) and into Balakot. From there we will assist them to the various camps in Gari Habibullah and Mansehra.

WDS goals:

• Identify gaps and neglect created by large organizations. Step in and fill those gaps. This is ever-changing and fluid.
• Assist with direct distribution of aid where other organizations do not have the capability. (Example: Using transport [hiring and providing fuel] that is stuck between two landslides for transportation of the elderly and the young or disabled).
• Offer information to organizations that need to access detailed information about very remote areas.
• Redirect aid where we identify issues due to our information capabilities.
• Hire "quake jumpers" — locals who can go to remote areas and bring people down to central relief centers.

Nisar Malik works for Walkabout Development Solutions, an organization UUSC has identified as an initial program partner.
 

On-the-ground report from Mustafa Talpur

We are still in shock after four days of the worst disaster in Pakistan’s history. More than 30,000 are dead, 50,000 are injured, and about 2.5 million are homeless.

Schoolchildren are buried under wreckage in several towns, including Balakot, Bagh, Muzaffarabad, and other small towns in Kashmir and the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. TV channels are showing the broken school bags and geometry boxes of innocent kids lying everywhere.

Thousands of dead bodies are lying in cities and villages. Till yesterday the school kids were calling inside the debris for help, as no timely help came to rescue them. Each and every family in the area has lost family members. The area is too difficult to access due to the mountains. There were few road links, and they were damaged and blocked by landslides.

Once famous as tourist destinations, Balakot and Kashmir are entirely leveled off. The weather is becoming worse, as winter has already started in these areas; millions of people are staying in the open sky without homes, food, water, electricity, and communication, but with grief, pain, and hopelessness. The entire generation in this area has been wiped out.

Mustafa Talpur works for an international NGO in Pakistan, one of the agencies with which UUSC is consulting closely on our earthquake relief efforts.