Remembering the Devastating Earthquake 2005

Saturday October 8, 2005 was a holiday and I was fast asleep having slept very late at night when a powerful jolt almost threw me out of my bed. Earthquake ! I yelled and all my family ran out of the house. Once outside everyone wanted to know hoe deadly was the quake. And then the gravity of the quake dawned on TV.

It started off with the collapse of Margalla Towers in Islamabad - but since no other damage reports had been received form elsewhere, everyone thought all was OK. But it wasn't.

Up in the northern areas of Pakistan and Kashmir, still unknown to many, something terrible has had happened. Villages after villages had perished as the 7.6 Richter scale strong earthquake had hit Balakot, Mansehra, Muzzaffarabad and adjoining areas. In just few second almost 79,000 people had scummed to the quake, while it rendered 3-4 million homeless.

Pakistan Army reacted very promptly and soon thousands of soldiers were on their way to the northern areas with earth removing equipment, medicines, tents and relief good. The devastation had been enormous. The casualties were four times more than the Tsunami that struck parts of Asia and Indonesia. While access of aid workers and rescuers to Tsunami affected areas was swift owing to its flat terrain and generally coastal areas, the relief work in one of the most rugged mountain terrain of Pakistan had been a tough challenge for the Pakistan Army and other relief workers. Most of the areas were only accessible by helicopters since all roads gave away to landslides. 

It was ironic that world reacted to Tsunami with over 4000 helicopters and thousands of rescue and relief workers, but when more devastation occurred in Pakistan, only a handful of helicopters could be spared by world community, not even totaling 50. 

The earthquake affected areas were suffering from extremes of winter cold and snow fall (6 out of the 10 world's highest mountains are in this region). The 4 million people were left to shiver and die in the absence of meaningful aid, specially the temporary hutments and shelters. Due to the inaccessibility of the area to heavy earth removing machinery, most of the dead remained buried under the rubble for a long time- the stench of dead bodies could still be felt in the "cemented grave yards" for many weeks.

I was on leave on that day, but I hurriedly rushed back to my place of duty and I found our hospital full of injured - majority needing immediate major surgery as these had multiple fractures all over their bodies. Since all hospitals were loaded with the injured, we had to rely on only one surgeon, Colonel Taseer, who assisted by other doctors worked day and night, operating upon the injured and fixing their fractures one after the other. But the casualties kept pouring in for another week, till more space was created in major hospitals.

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I remember two brothers from Muzzaffarabad who had their both legs fractured but they braved their pain with smiles and determination. 

Much has been done to restore the quake hit areas. New buildings and schools have come up with new roads made and the work still continues. But the wounds of the soul will never be able to heal as those who lost their near and dear ones will never forget that dreadful day when wrath of nature fell on them.

Let us all pray that we be saved from such calamities and the wounds of the soul be healed of those who suffered.  

Read more about it in Pakistanpaedia

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Let us leave Siachen to God to repair the damage we humans have caused to it

Everyone heard about the disaster that blanketed the headquarters of a 6th Northern Light Infantry of Pakistan Army - burying alive 138 personnel both military and civilians underneath a thick sheet of 25 metres consisting of boulders, rocks and snow, with a heavy heart. The disaster occurred on the Saturday morning and it has been five days but there has been no news about those buried underneath the landslide.

The aftermath of the tragedy: A heap of boulders and snow blanket the unlucky 138

The tragedy that befell on those unlucky 138 soldiers and supporting civilians, which is as sad and lamenting as any other disaster that strikes us. Should not this disaster open up discussion through media on both sides of the border on the fruitlessness of the Siachen war and its ramification on life and humanity?

Let us all raise our voice to persuade our respective governments to demilitarise Siachen Glacier to its pre 1984 status and leave it to the God forever to repair the damage we humans have inflicted upon it.

Read full post: Siachen Disaster: Isn't it time that sanity should prevail?

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Do the Japanese believe in God more than others?

The earthquake that hit Japan recently followed by waves of tsunami has left people of the world pondering over the resilience, perseverance, determination and faith of the Japanese people. There were no scenes of lamenting and chest beating seen anywhere after the disaster hit. Although people had tears for the near and dear ones that perished, but no one lamented and cursed God for the disaster. That is something that makes all of us wonder whether the Japanese really believe in God more than us?

Look at us (I mean everyone around the globe) when a tragedy hits us. We lament, beat our chests and cry out loud to ask God why us!! But here they stood, strong, unnerved and determined to take stock of the situation rather than making hue and cry.  Unlike many advanced countries of the world who champion themselves as model for other, these poor fragile people showed strength of character and moral fiber.  There were no reported incidents of looting, rather people joined hands together to help carry their salvaged luggage to safer places. I remember a TV footage long ago when there was one hour electricity failure in New York, and people of this “great city” looted stores and raped women. But in total contrast, there prevailed a unique calm and order, as if everyone knew what to do when a disaster hits.

There have been many reported incidents when super store owners, asked people to take everything for free. And when the stores ran out of supplies, people who had surplus brought back to stores to share with those still in need.

Then there is a tale of a man who took out his boat against the tsunami, braved the formidable walls of roaring water and rode over many tsunami waves. He knew the danger that was coming, the risks he was taking, but he put his own in danger in the hope that by saving his boat, he will be able to come back and help his fellow citizens much more than if he had simply ran like other to higher ground to save his own soul. After reaching the clear seas, he then came back and since then he has been transporting people free of cost. Some who have money give him a paltry sum for his fuel costs.

Despite the damage and the loss, people showed dignity and calm. The stayed in lines to get water and other aid goods. No one was seen rushing, jumping over the relief trucks and snatching relief goods. At no place there was chaos or rushing over. Rather some people gave way for other to get aid first than them. People showed grace and got only what they needed and did not insist on more than their needs.

In many cases, when electricity went out in stores, people put the things back on the racks and left the stores and waited outside, rather than taking things away under the blanket of darkness and slipping away without paying.

And above all, there was no media hype, no exaggerated reports or no labeling by any media of “having reached the area first” or “reporting before others.” The media behaved responsibly and it felt as if they were too helping the government in their efforts to reach out to people and help, rather than scoring point.

This reminded me of many incidents of breaking lines, taking things forcibly and denying the same for other affected people standing by, when disaster hit our country not very long ago. People stopped aid trucks from going further to affected people further ahead and took away everything the trucks carried. This denied people further away of any relief goods for days. This also reminds me of the role of media which lamented more than people and only reported negatively to undermine the efforts of the government and aid workers. The lady news reporters roamed in the area wearing creased colourful clothes with visible make up as if reporting a fashion show. And the VIPs visited, though days after, with clean creased clothes and distributing money mere show offs rather than showing any semblance of real grief and pain.

And before I forget, did anyone see buildings falling after almost 9 magnitude earthquake and many aftershocks there after? Perhaps none as the earthquake proof buildings really stood ground and spoke volumes of the ability and the honesty of the people who built these multistoried buildings. And that is the reason that the death toll was very minimal and whatever happened was because of tsunami and not because of falling buildings and debris. We vividly remember crumbling of our infrastructure, rather a total devastation of buildings in our earthquake of 2005. Even the posh and expensive Margalla Towers crumbled.

All this really makes me wonder and ponder whether we really believe in God more than Japanese? I am afraid it seems the other way round. 

Originally posted in JahoJalal

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Massive earthquake rocks Japan

Japan’s eastern coastal areas were hit by a massive earthquake of the magnitude of 8.9 at the Richter scale on Friday afternoon. The earthquake is considered to be the most severe in Japan’s otherwise quake prone history. Japan is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, accounting for about 20% of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater. The quake was immediately followed by 23 feet high Tsunami waves that swept away everything that came its way. Even large naval vessels were seen being swept away helplessly.

Footage from Aljazeera TV

This earthquake is considered to be the fifth severest during the last 100 years. It was anotch higher than the quake that hit Chile last year that had a rating of 8.8. There are reports of fires, and missing of two trains, besides many accounts of falling buildings and death toll that is likely to rise. 

The epicenter of the earthquake is said to be at the depth of 24.4 kilometres, 130 km (80 miles) east of Sendai, Honshu, Japan. It has also been reported that the Japanese government has ordered for the evacuation of thousands of residents near the nuclear power plant in Onahama as the plant's system was unable to cool the reactor and pressure inside is rising. The reactor's core remained hot even after a shutdown, and a radiation leak was seen as possible. The plant is 170 miles northeast of Tokyo.

Owing to the massivity of the earthquake, the Pacific tsunami warning centre in Hawaii has issued warning for Russia, Marcus Island and the Northern Marianas. Tsunami watches have also been issued for Guam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hawaii and the entire western coast of the US and Canada, from the Mexican border to Chignik Bay in Alaska.

We pray fro the safety of the people of Japan from this great calamity. It may be noted here that Japan was one of the few countries that rendered immediate and timely assistance and help to Pakistan when a 7.6 strong quake jolted Pakistan on 5th October 2005 that left close to 100,000 people dead, beside large scale destruction of infrastructure and buildings.

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Disaster (mis)Management

Now that the flood water has washed away half of Pakistan’s central belt and has reached the southern provinces of Sind and Balochistan, the devastation left behind is enormous. The flood affectees are having the worst time of their lives, with all their belongings and most of the livestock washed away by the flash floods, leaving behind nothing but some remnants of their houses. They are finding it extremely difficult even to sustain themselves on daily basis. There is shortage of food, tents and medicines. The water borne diseases are wide spread and already a number of children and women have died of gastro and related diseases.

Despite the concern and efforts by everyone, less by the government and more by the NGOs and philanthropists, there are still a sizeable number of flood victims devoid of any worthwhile relief or aid meant for them. There seems to be widespread chaos and confusion for distribution of the relief goods. Although a large number of relief goods are collected by many leading NGOs and sent to the flood affected areas on daily basis, these are not reaching the people. The only controlled effort seems to be undertaken by the Army, supported by the other two sister services. The army did a commendable job to evacuate the marooned and the stranded to safer places. But after that, there has been a general lack of supervision and management by the local officials and government departments.

The reason is mismanagement – rather utter mismanagement. There is no central body to channel the aid and relief goods. The NGOs and others are sending truck loads to places they deem worthy of help. So the end result is that commodity A goes to a place where commodity B should have gone, and commodity C goes to a place which is already in abundance of the same goods.

At times like this, there must be somebody who should immediately asses the damage and requirement of relief good and aid, and it is through this body that all aid and relief effort flow outward rather than everyone taking the relief operation on its own. And for this very reason, people are seen lamenting when interviewed by the TV channels that they have got nothing so far. Although in such times, every victim wants more and more, but at least what is bare minimum should reach everyone.

But no such arrangements are in sight so far even after three weeks of floods and rains. If such in-attitude on the part of the government functionaries continues, I am afraid the woes of the victims are going to increase and even their move back to nowhere would make matters worse with no materials at hand to rebuild, rather construct their houses from the scratch.

After the earthquake of 2005, an authority by the name of National Disaster Management Authority was (NDMA) created to manage the disasters. But despite an elapse of many years, the NDMA today at best can “Monitor” the disaster and has no muscles to “Manage” the disasters. During earthquake, specialist teams from foreign countries were called to detect people still buried under the rubble as they had the sophisticated sensing equipment, well trained dogs and personnel specially trained for such disasters. With the creation of the authority, it was hoped that now specialist teams at home with requisite equipment will be trained and be readily available in times of disasters. But as of today, there exists no such facility or setup that has such specialist people available. When the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad and Gakkhar Plaza in Rawalpindi were on fire, the buildings almost burnt to ashes but we did not have any specialized force or teams which could rescue people inside the trapped buildings. We did not have sufficient snorkels with the Rescue 1122 or any other agency to extinguish fire from elevated platforms. It was an apology to see water with hardly any pressure being sprinkled from the ground, which hardly reached the first floors. And when the Air Blue aircraft crashed, the volunteers did not have equipment o fight back the fire and they were seen removing the debris still on fire with bare hands or wood sticks. In fact for such eventualities, teams equipped with fire extinguishers should have been dispatched first so as to extinguish fire as fire tenders cannot reach such inaccessible areas.

In a recent interview on one of the TV channels, the Chairman NDMA very candidly confessed the inability of NDMA to control of the situation as it does not “battalions” to move physically into the disaster hit areas. So that means, as of today, we do not have any well trained and equipped body to take charge and control of the disaster hit areas. NDMA on its part can at best be called national Disaster “Monitoring” Authority for it can only provide figures and base assessments.

And that is the reason that despite collecting thousands of truck loads by NGOs and other organizations, the aid fails to reach everyone. Since the NGOs and other donor agencies are at loss to where to send their relief goods and how. So whatever suits their individual NGO/Organization’s assessment of the disaster or damages, they divert their effort there. And in some cases due to mismanagement and lack of security, the victims have reportedly looted the relief goods meant to areas ahead of their locations. The piecemeal effort also resulted in taking credit by the NGOs / Organizations for “being the first” to reach an area. Even the private TV channels were trying to race ahead of others and flashing slides that they were the first to air such and such report or incident.

If there existed a well managed and organized body, it should have had at least tents and other essential items already stored at various places and had sent these to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa immediately. Then as the flood travelled downstream, they would have had time to collect more aid and relief goods to systematically place these on ground for people to move in. Even such an organization should have already issued list of items to be packed in small cartons for immediate use and bigger cartons for subsequent use to all NGOs donor organizations in normal disaster free times. This would have helped the NGOs/Organizations to pack the items as already chartered and sent to preselected places, where these should have been taken over by Army for further dispatch to areas under their jurisdiction.

There is a need to formulate a rehabilitation strategy as any time wasted would mean dissipation of the aid and the relief goods. And in the end no one will get even bare minimum to start afresh. At the same time, the role and charter of NDMA be rehashed and it should be made a potent organization which could take control effectively in such eventualities. And it should be only NDMA or any such organization that emerges out of detailed analyses of the present situation which should have its own control room to monitor, manage and issue press statements rather than individual organizations.

I pray to the Nature to spare us and forgive us and such disaster may not befall on us again as we are ill equipped and ill prepared for such disasters. Spare us for we do not learn from our past experiences and constitutes authorities, organizations and bodies rich at top and in perks and privileges with hardly any capability to control, manage and monitor. In the meantime, our people will brave out the hard times and endure the hardships as they have always done and make some shelter for their families to live on. No thanks to the government.

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