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'There was nothing left in this city'

Shelina Begum
31/10/2005

<p><P><STRONG>Wednesday 26 October, Islamabad</STRONG></P> <P>HALLELUJAH – we finally managed to fly out today.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></P> <P>The whole of the Al-Masoom team including myself woke up bright and early to get to the army base in Chaklala.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>We were told to be there for 7am, but it being Pakistan you have to consider Asian timing, which meant we had to wait almost five hours before we were able to board our chopper.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>It was the same American military chopper and the officers greeted us enthusiastically again.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>I also noticed that some of our British troops had also arrived there.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>Al Masoom’s aid was stored in a truck so the Pakistani army officers helped us unload. We were told the first place the aid was being delivered to was Nousehri, a remote area where little aid had been received.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>The team sat at the back of the chopper. The weather looked good, you can see the mountains quite clearly which meant that that the chances of lift off were very likely.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>We were buckled into our seats and given earplugs so the noise would not deafen us. It was very loud and we could hardly hear each other speak.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>As we took off I realised that the back entrance was actually being left open, this meant we got an open-air view of everything. It was an exciting moment and something I had only ever seen in the movies. <o:p></o:p></P> <P>For the first minute it did feel like I was on a scary theme park ride but that soon passed as we took off.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>The first twenty minutes of our journey consisted of flying though the beautiful mountainous regions of the Kashmir Valley. It was truly breathtaking. It was no wonder there were still so many victims who were reluctant to leave their crumbled and destroyed homes.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>Little brick houses were perched on mountainous tops, with roads that entwined through the valleys. I found it hard to see how some people can live in such remote areas isolated from even their neighbours, but I guess the beauty of the valleys was compensation for their choice of living.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>As we neared to the disaster zone, we could see homes that have been destroyed, roofs fallen into the living rooms, landslides everywhere and people waiting for help outside rubble which was once their home.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>After 30 minutes we arrived in Nousehri.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>Officers from the Pakistani army had been waiting for us as well as the local villagers.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>Looking around there wasn’t a building still standing. There was not much aid there either, so all of Al Masoom’s aid was taken out.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>Villagers who haven’t received any food or clothing for days waited eagerly to see what they could take back with them.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>I saw a group of young girls so I approached them but they ran off. Another elderly villager called them back. I tried speaking to them but they looked at me, their eyes blank. The elderly villager, Mahmood spoke to me instead. My Urdu has since improved but I was still struggling. I told him I was Bangladeshi and his eyes lit up. He had spent 10 years in Saudi Arabia living amongst Bangladeshis so he knew his Bangla quite well. It was also the first time I cam a cross a Bengali speaking person.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>Mahmood told me his home was a pile of mud. The walls were not made of brick and were destroyed within minutes of the quake. He hadn’t eaten for days and everyday he waited for some aid to get to them. He was thankful that we had arrived and hopefully he would take something back to his family.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>We said our goodbyes and went back into the aircraft. This time some older victims joined us in the craft. They wanted to be taken to Muzzafrabad. One man sat opposite me. His eyes looked pained. I could not sit there and bear to look at him, he was struggling to sit and his body was twitching. I wanted to ask him if he was OK but the noise from the craft meant nobody could hear each other.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>We flew over Muzzafrabad. I got a bird’s eye view of the whole city, it was completely destroyed.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>The city was once home to thousands of people, now it was home to the dead.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>We landed in Muzzafrabad. The old men got off before we did. One of the old men looked at me and gave me little smile. He then took my hand and kissed it saying thank you. He really warmed my heart. We left the aircraft and decided to have a look around. On the ground there seemed to be quite a lot of aid. In fact I was told there was enough aid in Muzzafrabad and that aid was needed in the remote areas and camps that were being set up all over Pakistan. <o:p></o:p></P> <P>It was sad and almost soul destroying to be stood in Muzzafrabad. There was nothing left in this city.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>Most people had moved out to get help outside of Kashmir, others had gone to nearby camps. Behind the destroyed buildings stood the mountains, three weeks ago this would have been a picture perfect postcard.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>We only spent a few minutes there before we left to head back towards Islamabad.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>Our team sat quietly, everybody taking in the destruction we had seen, even feeling guilty that when we return home we will have houses to go back to. Those that survived the quake had nothing.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>LATER that evening we met an aid worker from London, Shahzad Mahiudim who had been in the disaster area since the first week. <o:p></o:p></P> <P>He had travelled there with two friends and £100,000 worth of donations to help the victims. But nothing had prepared him for what he had seen.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>He arrived in Muzzafrabad four days after the disaster. At the time there was still hundreds of dead bodies lying under rubble. Volunteers were working endlessly trying to get these bodies out and bury them. The dead were decaying fast under the hot blazing sun and disease was spreading.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>In many cases it was impossible to get the bodies out so they had no choice but to chop the bodies up little by little and bury the limbs.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>Said Shahzad: "It is something that no human would want to ever experience but it had to be done to stop diseases being spread.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>"When I arrived rescue missions were going strong but with each day it was getting bleaker and bleaker as less and less survivors were being rescued.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>"There was also children just lying there near their homes, their parents had died and they had nowhere to go, many had not eaten for days.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>"People just sat there helpless<o:p></o:p></P> <P>"I have been through most of the devastated areas. This has meant travelling on foot and even on donkeys to reach the remote areas.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>"There is still a lot of work to do and I plan to stay on another couple of weeks and help out." <o:p></o:p></P> <P>Thursday, former Prime Minister Chaudhry Soujad Hussain’s residence, Islamabad<o:p></o:p></P> <P>The former prime minister of Pakistan, Chaudhry Soujad Hussain told us he is setting up a ‘sponsor a family scheme’ during a meeting at his residence in Islamabad.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>Al-Masoom were invited to meet him and talk about the aims of this trip.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>He was impressed with the efforts so far and told us international aid had been great.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>But now he was looking to the future and helping the victims build new lives.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>His plans include setting up a scheme where people can sponsor a family and also building a new centre in Islamabad for disabled children.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>He said: "It is important for now to help as many victims as we can but in the long term we need to help them build their lives as well.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>"We feel a sponsorship scheme will help families financially. It is a feasible project that the international community can also help out with.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>"There are also hundreds of young people who have lost limbs and will need care to be able to learn how to move on from this tragedy. This care involves physical as well as emotional, so we have decided to set up a disable centre for them. I feel this is very worthwhile and will be needed in a time like this."<o:p></o:p></P> <P>Mr Hussain however ruled out any chance of foreigners adopting orphans.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>He said he felt that people would take advantage of the situation and take children to countries to be treated badly.<o:p></o:p></P> <P>He added: "I don’t want children to fall into the wrong hands and at this moment it is important they stay in their own country where they can speak their own dialect and be with their own people."<o:p></o:p></P></p>

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