Q&A: Cassandra Nelson on the Pakistan Earthquake

Mercy Corps senior communications officer Cassandra Nelson is used to working in chaotic situations, from donning a gas mask in a Kuwait hotel during a pre-Gulf War air raid alert to figuring out which of her three phones is most likely to work in the Kashmir foothills. Last Tuesday night, as she prepared to join Mercy Corps’ team in the remote regions of Pakistan shattered by this month’s earthquake, Nelson took a break for a quick phone conversation. (The electricity wasn’t working, anyway.) She talked about Mercy Corps’ efforts to help the estimated 4 million people affected by the quake, about the situation’s international implications and about preparing to trek into heart of the disaster.

Q: You’re in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, south of the earthquake zone. What are you up to right now?

Well, right now it’s about midnight here, and I’m sitting in the complete dark because the power went out. It often goes out here, but since the earthquake, it’s been even spottier than usual. I was packing up to head up to the affected areas tomorrow - I’ve gotta get my sleeping bag together and charge up a bunch of batteries. But I guess I’ll have to wait!

Q: Not to make this sound like you’re going camping, but what kind of conditions are you preparing for? What do you need to bring?

Basically, I am going camping, for the simple reason that there aren’t a lot of standing structures in the area the earthquake hit. I’m bringing a tent, a sleeping bag, and like I said, I’m hoping I can charge enough batteries to survive for a few days.

Q: Now, you haven’t been in Pakistan for long -

No. I took the red-eye in this morning.

Q: What’s your impression of how the international media coverage of the disaster compares to the reality?

Balakot got to be the poster child of the disaster for a day, because the road had been cleared and the international journalists were able to get there. That’s natural, but no one is going into the other areas - “no one” might be an overstatement, but almost no one. For anything further out right now, the world media is just going to be in too much of a hurry to get anything. So there is a lot of the story that is just not getting out there.

Q: What’s Mercy Corps been able to do so far?

We already have a small team of volunteers and doctors in the field. They’ve set up a small medical unit - basically a triage unit. They had to walk in yesterday to the area they’re working in, but I heard that today the road has been repaired to the point that we’ll be able to drive to the station itself. Beyond that, though, you have to walk.

Q: What’s your plan when you get there?

We’re going to go by foot up into the country, where people haven’t been able to get any aid yet. Some people have been able to walk out themselves to get help, but anyone who’s injured hasn’t been. So, you’re up there - you’re in the foothills of the Himalayas, and I imagine that even a lot of the villages are in pretty inaccessible, steep areas. It will be like going trekking.

Q: Who will you go out with?

We’ll have a couple of doctors and three or four support people. There are 10 people at the station now, and eight of us are going up tomorrow. Besides the medical team, we have a separate water and sanitation team coming, because of course that’s a major issue. Right now, the doctors are saying they’re seeing a lot of cases of secondary infections, gangrene, that sort of thing.

Q: Will you be staying out in the field overnight or coming back to the medical base camp?

My understanding is that we’ll go as far as we can in a day and come back, at least initially. We’ll assess what we’re able to do and whether we need to go out overnight, whether we need to get donkeys, that sort of thing.

Q: Understanding that you’ve been there for less than a day, what’s your impression of how the Pakistani public is responding?

The public is really responding generously. While it’s obvious that Islamabad is in mourning—there was very little traffic on the roads today, and it almost felt like it was a public holiday because no one was out on the streets - people are really engaged. The country’s real economic hubs were not hit. Pakistan really depends on trade in the south, natural resources from Baluchistan and farming in the Punjab. In the north, frankly, people have always been poor because the region just doesn’t have much. So there’s not a sense that the country’s economy will be devastated - just that this will be a major expense and a major effort.

Q: A lot of attention has been paid to the interactions between Pakistan and India in the aftermath of the quake. What’s your first impression of how that’s unfolding?

Maybe I’m just an optimist at heart, but I have to think that this is something they will work together on. India lost more than 1,000 people, so the impacts on that side of the border are severe as well. So perhaps this can be the foundation for something. If you think back to what happened in Aceh, Indonesia after the tsunami, you ended up with a peace agreement between the rebels and the government and some real progress. That’s what you like to think is the model for what’s going to happen after things like this. On the other hand, in Sri Lanka the political situation is much worse after the tsunami. So things can go either way.

Q: You’ve spent a lot of time in South Asia and the Middle East. What’s your sense of how this crisis will affect the broader region and the Muslim world, in particular?

It’s really important to note that all this is happening during Ramadan, which is supposed to be a time of giving and sacrifice and reflection on the principles of Islam. That’s really highlighting the dire need here even more than would ordinarily be the case. And Muslim countries, as much as the politics between them can be so bad, are pretty good about taking care of each other when things like this happen.

Q: And what about response from Western countries? Is this an opportunity for them to reach out in a region of the world where there is traditionally a lot of distrust?

A lot rests on how the West reacts not just now, but in the coming weeks and months. So far, it seems like the international community has been very forthcoming with aid. For me, one of the most meaningful things was seeing how Great Britain responded. In London, where the scars from the Underground bombings are still so fresh and there has been so much tension over immigration from the Muslim world, there was just a tremendous, immediate outpouring. They were the first to get their firefighters here, to get relief on the way. So if countries like Britain and the US stick with it, it could be a tremendous opportunity. But of course, the West has also screwed up aid plenty of times in the past, so it remains to be seen.