Charities offer helping hand to quake survivors

A long queue of survivors snakes out of a tent in a camp on a hilltop in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir that was destroyed in the 8 October earthquake. Some have travelled for up to two days to get to the city, from villages nestled high in the mountains that overlook the city. The tent serves as a medical centre and those queuing are waiting to see a doctor. The medical centre is in the Tariq Abad camp, which was set up by the UK-based charity, Muslim Hands, after the suburb, which sits high on the hills on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad, was flattened in the quake. Nothing remains of the district; the mounds of rubble the children play on are the only reminders of a previous life. Established in 1993, Muslim Hands is an international organisation working in over forty countries worldwide to help those affected by natural disasters, conflict and poverty. Of Muzaffarabad’s two hospitals, only one is partially standing and the health infrastructure in areas affected by the earthquake has virtually collapsed. Most of the health facilities were destroyed in the earthquake, which left at least 86,000 dead and more than 100,000 injured, according to the Pakistani government. Inside the medical tent Dr Naem Khan from Doctors Worldwide, a UK-based charity, is treating a man with a severe testicular infection. “Without treatment he would have died,” Khan said. This patient was lucky as he was able to get to the medical centre for treatment. But Khan is fearful for the thousands of survivors who have not yet trekked down from their villages in the mountains for help. Khan treats around 80 patients a day and says that trauma injuries caused by the quake are on the decline but that infections due to poor hygiene and a lack of adequate sanitation are rising. Many of the patients he treats suffer from respiratory infections due to the cold – it is estimated that some half a million people are still without shelter. “Respiratory infections are dangerous,” said Khan. “If not treated they could lead to pneumonia.” Hundreds of cases of pneumonia are already being treated and health organisations warn that diseases, such as cholera and measles, already endemic in the region, could break out among survivors due to overcrowded conditions in camps, bad weather and the lack of clean water. Hundreds of earthquake survivors living in camps in Pakistani-administered Kashmir have acute diarrhoea, World Health Organization (WHO) officials have said. Doctors are investigating whether the outbreak has been caused by cholera. The health charity Doctors Worldwide has five doctors and one pharmacist in Muzaffarabad and they treat patients at three medical centres, all set up by Muslim Hands. All of the volunteers from Doctors Worldwide speak Urdu, which has saved time and resources in treating patients and helped patients to be less nervous. The doctors say there has been an increase in cases of malnutrition. “We’re seeing malnutrition in patients, particularly survivors arriving from mountain villages,” said Dr Mohammad Waeed. “The situation is made worse by the fact that it’s taking some of the villagers up to two days to come to the camps to see a doctor, and most of the kids are in a bad way,” he said. The working conditions for the doctors are rudimentary. The camp did not have electricity for three weeks and the doctors brought their own medicine and equipment from Britain. “We each bought 100 kg of medicine. Some of my friends donated money,” said Khan. “We travelled on Pakistan Airlines, so we weren’t charged excess baggage,” he said. The centre caters for some 1,000 residents of the camp although survivors have been streaming down from surrounding villages higher up the mountains. “Every day two to three families make the journey to the camp from the villages,” said Attiqoue Kiani, the head of relief for Muslim Hands. “That’s about 24 people a day,” he said. Muslim Hands collects data on all new arrivals who are then given a tent, food, blankets and water. But as with the rest of the earthquake-stricken region, there is a desperate shortage of tents. The Islamic charity is expecting a shipment of 300 tents but that is not enough to meet growing demand. The group of volunteer doctors also sends volunteers to bring urgent aid to what is left of the villages above the city. As well as five volunteers who work out of the camp, local camp residents have also been helping fellow survivors. They distribute buckets for carrying water as well as hygiene kits, which consist of toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels and soap. “We are going to them - as survivors they don’t want to leave their homes, as their belongings are still under the rubble,” said Kiani. Kiani says the biggest problem for the residents of the camp, apart from the bitterly cold nights, is sanitation. There are not enough toilet facilities, which are simply holes in the ground, and no running water. With survivors from so many different villages, Kiani says there is often social tension within the temporary camps, with members of different clans clashing. “There are families from many areas and in this situation, with the stress of having lost loved ones, the hard living conditions and distribution of tents, there can be a lack of understanding,” he said. Kiani is more than familiar with the problems facing survivors for he is one himself. He lost 70 members of his family in the earthquake, including aunts and uncles. He now lives in a small tent with 10 other members of his family in another camp run by Muslim Hands. “It’s not easy, it’s cold and the children are very unhappy,” he said. “But until there is more aid, what can we do?”