17/10/2005 - Ottawa, Canada: he exact number of children who have been orphaned or separated from their families following the October 8 earthquake which hit South Asia is still unknown, but relief workers who are labouring tirelessly to care and protect these helpless victims warn that their number is climbing.
SOS Children's Villages Canada is joining with SOS Children's Villages Associations throughout the world to provide emergency aid and shelter to the thousands of children are among the estimated two million left homeless by the disaster.
"We are working closely with the Pakistani government to determine the number of children who have been left orphaned and without family by this disaster," reported SOS Children's Villages Canada National Director, Boyd McBride. "But our organization has been carrying out humanitarian work in Pakistan for almost three decades, which means we have the necessary expertise on the ground, ready to go into action quickly. We are prepared to care for every child and have the capacity to take in any number of children," he continued.
Mr. McBride explained that previous to this disaster, in 2005 alone, SOS Children's Villages had carried out five emergency relief programs. "Our involvement now in Pakistan will bring that total to six for this year - tsunami relief in South East Asia, drought relief in Mali, famine and drought relief in Niger, flood relief in Senegal and currently, hurricane relief in Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras," he said.
Safia Awan, Vice-President of SOS Children's Villages Pakistan was part of a rescue mission which flew to Muzzafarabad, in the Kashmir region of Pakistan on October 14. She described the total devastation left in the wake of Pakistan's latest natural disaster.
"I looked around and tried to get my bearings, but all I could see was collapsed homes, villages, and villages of debris. Where were we, and where were all the people I expected to see below us? I kept looking out for the slightest human activity and found none. Where were all the people? How did they get out...the roads around had all collapsed. Where were all the people? Then it struck me: they were all dead!"
As torrential rains pelted down on rescue workers in the Himalayan region of Kashmir yesterday, Pakistani officials sharply raised their death toll estimates from the October 8 earthquake to more than 54,000 lives with over 65,000 injured. Aid workers warn that the cold and wet weather will likely cause that total to rise, leaving even greater numbers of children alone and unprotected.
SOS Children's Villages is working closely with local authorities, hospitals and the Pakistani government and military to identify children needing safe shelter and care. Women and children are being taken to the organization's emergency relief shelter in the city Rawalpindi, adjacent to Islamabad. In addition, a further seven SOS Children's Villages throughout the country which were almost completely undamaged by the quake, are ready to accommodate and care for more children.
The Pakistani government may request that SOS Children's Villages act as the temporary guardian of 'unaccompanied' children, SOS has been asked to complete this role before. The government is responding to fears that unaccompanied children from the disaster regions may fall into the wrong hands. Local media recently reported that three children were abducted from a hospital in Islamabad. The organization will be collecting all available information on each child and setting up a database which will include a photograph. Those children who are orphaned or who cannot be reunited with their families, will be given long-term care within an SOS family in an SOS Children's Village.
SOS Children's Villages will also continue transporting and distributing emergency aid to Muzzafarabad. Relief packages include dry food, water, blankets, mattresses and tents. SOS Children's Villages inspection teams will be assessing the damage to the newly-built but as yet still unoccupied Children's Village in the city, to determine its suitability as an emergency shelter.
The Village was heavily damaged by the quake - the community centre and school were destroyed and other buildings have been severely damaged. SOS Children's Villages will be working with the military to operate water plants at a relief camp in the area. The four water plants operated by the organization will provide 25,000 people with daily drinking water.
Responding to a critical shortage of supplies in both Islamabad and Lahore, SOS Children's Villages is stocking a warehouse to help meet this urgent need. The focus of the organization's relief efforts over the next weeks will be:
- to continue to provide survival packages which include, tents, blankets, food and medicines
- to care for unaccompanied children entrusted to SOS Children's Villages Pakistan
- to support of the military relief efforts in Muzzafarabad
The mammoth task facing relief workers was summed up by Mrs. Awan: " ...the devastation and destruction is beyond our most horrific imaginations. The colossal magnitude of the situation is beyond all comprehension. The Pakistani Army is handling the situation to the best of their ability within the resources available to them: they are doing all that is humanly possible. When I asked one of the pilots how he continues to see what he does day after day, he said, 'It is the first bullet that kills you, after that you are dead.''