  
| 
| ||||||||||||
 Earthquake survivors face winter against terrible oddsBy A. Chris Gajilan Programming note: Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports all this week on the conditions for South Asia earthquake survivors on "Anderson Cooper 360," at 10 p.m. ET.  At least 3 million people remain homeless in Pakistan after an October earthquake. SPECIAL REPORTYOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- Flying over northwestern Pakistan two months after the strongest earthquake to hit the area in 70 years is a stark testament to what happened on October 8, 2005. Amid the valleys and rises of the Himalayan foothills are tiny villages ... now distinguishable only by clusters of rubble dotted with adjacent tents. Entire mountain faces appear shaved off, as if sliced by a large knife cutting through rock. Buried beneath those fallen rocks are the bodies of some of the 80,000 people killed by this earthquake. It's hard to believe that this landscape was so changed in just two minutes. From the chopper, it's difficult to make out the people who now call the tents home. But the challenges of mere survival become clear as the glare of the frost reflects from the recent snowfall in the remotest of the mountaintop villages. Our team traveled to some of the hardest hit areas in the Northwest Frontier Province and Pakistan-held Kashmir. The latter has only recently been open to journalists and foreigners. It is a place that none of us ever imagined we'd be and now a place that none of us will ever forget. Everywhere we traveled, the landscape was filled with shocking destruction. From pulverized buildings, to shops flattened and homes buckled -- the loss was inescapable. In Muzaffarabad, a fault line had cracked through one man's home, forcing half of it to crumble off onto the road below it. In a small hotel in Paras, the first floor was completely smashed. The rest of the building stood with cracks and fissures, but the true sign of destruction was the loss of any entrance whatsoever. In each small village, people rushed to share their stories with us. Speaking rapidly in Urdu, throngs of people asked for help, aid and attention from anyone who could offer assistance. And plenty are -- USAID, Medecins Sans Frontieres, GOAL, the World Food Programme, Save the Children and even the 212th MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Unit) of the U.S. Army. But still, even with all the help that we encountered, the unmet needs were everywhere. At least 3 million people were made homeless by this earthquake. Some have chosen to pitch tents outside of the wreckage of homes their family has inhabited for generations, for fear that their land will no longer be theirs when they return. Others have moved to tent camps that have sprung up all across this region. All of them have hunkered down to face the winter against terrible odds. In this part of the world, temperatures will fall well below zero and snowfall will be meters-high by early February. Winter comes early in northern Pakistan,and the frozen ground resists tent stakes. The vast majority of these tents are not winterized and offer little to no protection against the freezing temperatures, strong wind gusts, rain and snow. International aid organizations are racing to distribute winter shelter kits and to train communities on how to assemble them. The homes are simple and cost only $180 to $200 to make - but they can accommodate six to eight people. They consist of about a dozen corrugated metal sheets for exterior walls, with straw to insulate and sunlight-attracting tarps. For many, these shelters will be the difference between life and death. Food is also scarce. Tins of oil and sacks of wheat, flour and lentils are loaded onto trailers for distribution. These tractors navigate the debris amid what remains of the switchback roads and tracks. The workers say that the difficulty lies not with the amount of available rations but rather getting them to where they are needed. In many areas, the only way to get supplies in is from the air. As the supplies arrive, these small villages come to life and everyone gathers for the food. But it is never enough. There is always someone who must wait for the next visit. The conditions are tough for visitors, much less inhabitants. In the small town of Gangwal, where snow has already fallen, we could not stay on the ground for longer than 30 minutes because the pilots feared the cold weather's effect on our aircraft. Field clinics dot the countryside -- run by local and international organizations. In these areas, a thyroidectomy and many other surgical procedures are rare. But in many cases, there is better medical care available now than before the earthquake. The common ailments have gone from fractures trauma, burns and tetanus to the treatment of respiratory illness, fever and stomachaches. While the immediate physical needs have become less dire, the threat of three or four months of intense cold cannot be underestimated. Already, there are fewer doctors at these sites. As the victims adjust to life in the months after the earthquake, there has also been social disruption. Pakistan is a Muslim country and cultural norms in these mountainous regions are conservative. Women are expected to cover their hair and shoulders with a hijab. In some of these remote camps, such as the Marai camp in the Allai Valley, many women were not allowed to work outside of the house and the girls did not go to school before the earthquake. At this camp of 15,000 people, there are Westerners, schools and occupational training programs. In fact, over 80 percent of the girls attending school in those tents had never been to school before in their lives. At the Marai camp, more and more people come down from the remote mountain villages to the valley camp to escape the looming winter. The camp is divided into areas mimicking the regions of their hometowns. The result is peace. Families live together in tents. Many of these tents are winterized and can even accommodate a small stove to cook and keep warm. Although these tents are often a last resort for many of these people, the camp seems to offer some stability. There have been more than 2,000 aftershocks in this area since the 7.5 magnitude earthquake. There is perpetual apprehension for the people living here. These people are haunted, not only by loved ones lost, but by the uncertainty of the future. 
|
| ||||||||||||
| © 2007 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
 |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
