(©2005 CARE/Arifa Sharmin)
BALAKOT, Pakistan (November 8, 2005) - "I lost everything — my home, all my belongings. 'Zalzala' [the earthquake] took away everything. I have only these clothes that I am wearing. I do not have warm clothes, a tent or a blanket to protect my children from the winter," said Gulshan Bibi. Frustrated and grim, she was waiting outside the relief camp with her two toddlers when we met her. Her husband had gone to the camp run by SUNGI, one of CARE’s partners in Pakistan, to collect a tent and warm clothes.
She had come in the morning from Kai village near Balakot, Pakistan. It was already midday and she was still waiting patiently with the hope that her husband would get a tent and blankets for her family. Gulshan's family is currently sharing a tent with four other families in her ruined village.
On the way to Balakot from Mansehra, we saw clothes piled up every few kilometers. No one seemed interested in these lightweight, summer clothes.
People were digging through more piles of clothes in front of the camp looking for winter clothes. Outside the camp, more than 100 people were lined up for blankets.
Winter is already arriving in the valleys and mountains. Men, women and children are in desperate need of winter clothes, blankets and winterized tents. CARE has already distributed 482 tents in the Allai Valley to families whose houses were damaged and destroyed. Pancho Boeren, CARE's emergency response team leader, said, "We do realize that these tents alone will not be able to protect these families from the cold and snow, so we defined a package that will make the tent winterized. This package includes a plastic mat for the floor, plastic sheets to make the tent walls and roof snow- and waterproof, a quilt and an energy-efficient wood stove. In addition, CARE will provide seven blankets to each family and shawls for personal physical insulation."
For nearly three weeks after the earthquake, the only way to reach the Allai Valley — one of the areas worst affected by the earthquake — was by helicopter. The road is now open but risky, with the continuing threat of landslides. CARE is beginning to send relief materials to the valley by small truck.
CARE Pakistan's target is to reach 7,500 families in the most affected areas in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Azad, Jammu, and Kashmir (AJK) through relief supplies and assisting communities to ensure safe shelter and health care.
