Pakistan quake

Thanks for the concern, Pete. I landed in Karachi from Dubai today about 3 hours after the quake. Karachi was unaffected, but apparently the north of the country is pretty devastated.

The country is in upheaval, with no centralized support mechanism for emergency response. People in the US argue that we didn't have any either, but these guys literally have none. The army is kind of stepping up to the plate, but not entirely. I think they'd do well to appoint someone even retroactively to try to coordinate what's going on.

John - I'd like to knock my jock in her walls!

--Dan

 

rock on brotherr !!!!!!!!

 

"Many buildings were not made to any Earthquake standard and just fell like a houses of cards. The main large water reservoir of Islamabad is destroyed and causing a shortage in many areas. Its a mess. The military is overwhelmed. "

From my uncle in Islamabad.

 

How is your uncle and any other family managing?

Damage is extensive as can be.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4323008.stm

 

They are all ok as of now, the area in which he lives was build to the proper standard. Water is partially an issue, but he has emergency water tanks, and the area has emergency generators.

However, I have to still get in contact with my all of my aunts, and see how they are managing.

 

This is a terrible toll - one report already has it at 3,000

Just can't imagine...

 

Omar - if you need hepl getting in touch with people, let me know. I will do whatever I can to help. Emailing me is easiest and I'll give you my numbers out here, etc.

The quake out here has had TERRIBLE effects. It is said that HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS are dead, and that the estimated damage is in the tens of billions.

WHY the government isn't admitting to this is absolutely beyond me. I just head the prime minister last night say that the death toll is in the hundreds. He's only 3 orders of magnitude off.

And the US aid? $100k. Absolutely pathetic.

The country really is in dire straights right now... the effects of this are going to be felt for years. I have no idea how India was affected, but areas where I was travelling less than two months ago no longer exist. Entire villages have crumbled along with the mountains they were on, now lay in ruins or in rivers.

It's appalling how bad things are. I know people in the US say that with FEMA we have no emergency management, but out here the concept of FEMA hasn't even hit the government. Even if retroactively they elect someone to coordinate the rescue efforts that would be amazing.

--Dan

 

Thanks for the 'inside' update Dan.

I've got some relatives who made it out safely from Margala towers, but we still haven't heard back from my mother-in-laws cousin who was in the building at the time it collapsed. They're still digging out survivors so we're praying that she makes it out alive.

The latest BBC report says 19000 dead -- I expect that this is going to rise considerably once they get a better picture of what happened in the more remote regions.

Perhaps more useful than the $100k would be to divert some helicopters from nearby afghanistan and sending them to help out in the rescue efforts. There are a lot of areas that rescuers simply can't reach from the ground due to the landslides. Bush keeps telling the world how close an ally pakistan has been on their war on terror -- let's hope he can help out in their time of need.

 

Just go the this.

Dan, good to hear you're alright!

 

This is another terrible tragedy. Glad to hear you're all right Dan.

 

Thanks for the words guys. Arshad I'm sure you have people in contact but i fyou need more just email me and I'll see what I can do.

So the updates here are over 40k confirmed deaths, the tolls is expected to cross 100. Supposedly there is no news coverage of this in the US so I figure my updates might actually mean something.

UK and US are sending helicopters, in the meanwhile the local government is using C130s to drop supplies to areas where there are roads still.

There's a lot of attention on the wealthy areas hit, but few aids workers (mainly from the UK) are able to get into the mountain-slide areas up north. They literally have nothing.

I'm trying my level best to find a way to get out there but its looking dismal. If you guys don't hear from me - you know where I went. In the meanwhile it seems that people are diverting as much as they can to the affected areas but the sense of frustration mounting is growing with every passing hour. And the fact that the locla news channels are basically running live feeds of the destroyed areas (if you guys have access to european news, lots of them are carrying stuff, CNN world is doing a good job) isn't helping much.

It's hard to say how this is all going to unfold. I suspect that as the aid starts pouring in, they are going to need to step it up and find a consolidated means of co-ordinating it otherwise there's going to be huge amounts of wasted effort or duplicated deeds done.

I myself am trying to get just the basic stuff sent out, but if I manage to get a helicopter I'm just going to go myself, take craploads of medical supplies, food, water and blankets from local retailers and see if I can just go move rocks from over people. Personally I feel so guilty not having done anything while I was in the US for Katrina that I feel I have to do *something.*

The people up in the mountains are really in a helpless situation. They don't even have shovels to bury the dead, let alone a little water to wash them off first.

Really hard to say what's going on and how it all unfolds. There are still entire villages under mountain slides, so the disaster efforts will take some time.

--Dan

 

Arshad I'm sure you have people in contact but i fyou need more just email me and I'll see what I can do.


Thanks Dan, we are in contact with relatives on the ground there, but haven't heard anything yet. With each passing moment, we're losing hope and now we're just praying that she went quickly and didn't suffer needlessly.


I myself am trying to get just the basic stuff sent out, but if I manage to get a helicopter I'm just going to go myself, take craploads of medical supplies, food, water and blankets from local retailers and see if I can just go move rocks from over people.


Thank you for the updates, and I want to personally express my gratitude for your valiant efforts as well. BTW, what are you doing there? Work related?

 

Arshad - I too know someone who was in the building... there are UK aids workers there right now. Also there's a local number that supposedly is taking and giving out information on people as they find it. I hope your relatives are ok, and like you said, otherwise they passed quickly and painlessly. I am sorry.

I'm not making any valiant effort. In fact, I still feel like I'm doing nothing. Honestly I'm doing what I would hope any other human being would do. I saw kids, just kids, out in the middle of the street with boxes collecting money for the aids workers. Critical people say how do you know it's going there, I say even if 10% is going there it's better than not and probably better than the government channels.

As for me, I've been bouncing around out here (Dubai, India, Pakistan, North Africa, etc) because I figure hey, I've done well so far, esp. for my age. I wanted to start a business that would do good for the people around here (MENA regions) and try to be lucrative. Seems like it's a feasible thing. But right now while that company would've helped a lot, it's not underway, and instead I feel that I can in the immediate future do something that DOES affect lives. I don't know, call it a sense of mission, call it guilt for not having gone out to help Katrina victims while I was back in Cali last month. It's pretty frustrating not being able to get out there but we'll see what transpires.

--Dan

 

Didnt know you were there. Glad to know you are ok eventhough u never reply to my love letters !

 

Andrew your letters come addressed "Dear Monica Cruz..." and "Sweet Adriana Lima..." and "My lovely Selma Hayek..." ... just because I live with them doesn't mean I open their mail!


So the latest here is that a japenese team is helping manage certain disaster relief efforts, the idiotic government turned down an offer from Israel (which I think is silly, because as Scott mentioned Israel has some of the best task forces in the world), US helos are en route.

The locals ahve been pretty amazing. It's the largest natural disaster to hit the country and in major towns blankets, water bottles, clothing, tents - it's all sold out. They're all being sent to collection centers and airports for cargo planes to carry to whatever regions they can get to. People are putting tons of money in action. The real issue now is helicopters. In the meanwhile I have been hearing of people walking 35, 40, etc. kilometers to take aid out to places where it hasn't reached.

Of course stories of death are myriad. In such a small place there's going to be somoene who was close to someone who is now dead or unaccounted for. I recently heard about a school of 500 children under rocks and the problem is that most don't even have parents alive now who would go identify bodies and dig them out.

In the meanwhile my uncle talked ot Musharraff and he said that basically any helicopter they can find they've got to help move stuff. I've been tryin gto talk to individuals who might own them to see if I can find one of my own to take up but the chances are looking slim. Then again if they're been allocated to that purpose then it's good use.

Not much more to say beyond that for now.

--Dan

 

Wow... i had no idea...

Dan, i'm glad you're alright and it sounds like you're doing the best you can to figure out a way to help other people... Good luck and stay safe, buddy... Keep us posted...