http://www.mercycorps.org/ The Latest Mercy Corps Pakistan Content en-us (c) 2007 Mercy Corps http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sun, 06 Jul 2008 07:59:01 -0700 Charity Mercy Corps In-house CMS 60 http://www.mercycorps.org/ /images/donate/mercy_logo_red.gif http://www.mercycorps.org/ 136 48 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/india/1781/ Epic floods, described by many as the worst in living memory, are deluging large swaths of India, Nepal and Pakistan. Fri, 03 Aug 2007 08:26:13 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/1752/ Mercy Corps is helping communities recover from Pakistan's destructive floods. Thu, 02 Aug 2007 09:20:14 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/1760/ As Mercy Corps delivers emergency kits to flood survivors in Pakistan, health teams are treating outpatients at three medical camps. Wed, 11 Jul 2007 07:53:01 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/topics/health/1673/ By training clinicians, heightening awareness and building a novel model of treatment support, Mercy Corps is helping Pakistan curtail the spread of one of its most pernicious diseases. Sat, 24 Mar 2007 10:44:56 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/topics/emergencies/1491/ John Stephens role at Mercy Corps gives him a unique perspective on efforts to rebuild earthquake-ravaged northern Pakistan. Mon, 09 Oct 2006 09:28:54 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/1473/ Mercy Corps recieves award from the President of Pakistan honoring the agency's relief work following the devastating earthquake that struck nearly a year ago. Tue, 26 Sep 2006 08:41:56 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/1449/ Examining life on the South Asian subcontinent was the focus of a Mercy Corps-sponsored film festival screened in Islamabad. Thu, 31 Aug 2006 10:47:10 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/1200/ It's back to school for the children of Kotlipaeen, a Pakistan village devastated by last October's earthquake that Mercy Corps resupplied with educational materials such as desks, books and backpacks. Fri, 07 Apr 2006 07:02:05 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/topics/emergencies/917/ Mercy Corps aid workers are winding down the agency's extensive shelter-building effort as recovery takes center stage in the mountainside villages in northern Pakistan, where residents struggle to recover from October's 7.6-magnitude earthquake. Since the disaster, we've distributed critical relief items to nearly 65,000 people, and treated more than 55,000 injuries and ailments at our health clinics. Now our efforts turn toward the region's recovery - repairing bridges, schools, clinics and other buildings and revitalizing communities that have lost everything. Winter weather is receding. Throughout the coldest months, Mercy Corps employed nearly 9,000 people to salvage materials such as lumber, while teams of agency aid workers disseminated 9-foot-long sheets of corrugated metal to use as roofing material for temporary dwellings. As a result, the last of more than 6,000 shelters are nearing completion. Mercy Corps teams continue working to ensure families living in large-scale tent camps have clean water and proper sanitation. In one such camp in Kastra, Mercy Corps built latrines and a bathroom, piped water to six new taps and engineered a tank system to hold 8,000 gallons of water. Although it's been a relatively mild winter, the cold weather has exacerbated health conditions, with acute respiratory illnesses consistently topping the list of ailments reported by patients who visited Mercy Corps health facilities. Aftershocks continue to shake the region, but winter is abating, having spared all but the highest elevations. Mercy Corps field staff report a mood of "guarded optimism," with the focus shifting to clean-up and rebuilding as the region recovers from a quake that has claimed a confirmed 87,000 lives. Here's what our 150-person team has done to help survivors: Shelter: Mercy Corps is finishing the last of more than 6,000 cold-weather shelters for thousands who faced the prospect a harsh Himalayan winter exposed to the elements. This included a Cash-for-Work program that has employed nearly 9,000 people salvaging materials such as lumber and providing corrugated roofing. Medical care: Five health facilities continue to treat quake-related injuries and medical conditions such as respiratory tract infections, intestinal problems and skin rashes. Most are related to exposure or poor sanitation. About 3,000 people a week are treated in these facilities, while another several hundred are visited by mobile medical teams who traveled to high-altitude towns in the Siran Valley. Two thousand health and hygiene kits have been distributed. Emergency items: Daily distributions included items to keep families warm in the winter. All told, our teams have distributed more than 3,400 tents, 6,100 stoves, 24,700 heavy blankets, 3,900 quilts and nearly 25,000 lightweight insulating blankets. Eighteen tons of food have been distributed since the earthquake struck. Clean water and sanitation: Mercy Corps has built 355 latrines and repaired water systems in 16 villages in Siran and Konsh Valleys. In addition, the agency is helping deliver clean water and safe sanitation for 30,000 people living in tented camps in Muzaffarabad, a city in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. Schools: In Hillkot, a January 13 celebration of Eid, a Muslim holiday, drew 200 children and 100 adults who reveled in prayers, songs, skits, games and poems. Aid workers are stocking schools there with supplies after furnishing two tented schools in Freedabad Village with mats, thermal blankets, psychosocial materials and school supplies. In all, Mercy Corps has helped about 1,300 children return to school. Earlier, Mercy Corps distributed book bags, text books, coloring books, crayons, and other school supplies to four schools (two primary and two secondary schools) in the hard-hit town of Battal, where classes are being convened in large winterized tents provided by the Pakistani government. The earthquake was the largest in decades to hit the disputed Himalayan region administered by both Pakistan and India. More than 2,000 seismic aftershocks and bad weather and rough terrain complicated relief efforts across the affected region. Mercy Corps has a long-term commitment to Pakistan. The agency has worked in Pakistan since 1985, and had 180 staff in the country prior to the earthquake. Its existing humanitarian operations in Baluchistan and Sindh Provinces continue. With spring just around the corner, Mercy Corps plans to shift from relief to longer-term recovery efforts in the northern region of Pakistan. Tue, 21 Mar 2006 06:05:59 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/1155/ Students in Oghi village were among the recipients of 150,000 survival blankets, part of a package of "warm room" relief materials that kept families warm during the harsh winter. Mon, 13 Mar 2006 09:26:39 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/1096/ At the beginning of January, Mercy Corps program officer Jackie Lee traveled from her Hong Kong home to Pakistan to get a firsthand look at our efforts to help earthquake survivors recover from the devastation. Fri, 10 Feb 2006 08:15:30 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/1100/ On my last day in Mansehra, Jill, our community revitalization program officer, took me to do something fun. We took off to visit a school out in the Trawra Village in Ughi Township of Mansehra District, a district even more neglected than others. It's essentially a lawless tribal area populated by ethnic Pashtuns from Afghanistan. I was told this was a haven for the criminals, with many reports of looting, stealing and violence. Most NGOs try to avoid working in this area, but Mercy Corps was reaching out to these people thought of as "outcasts." Waiting for a delivery of school supplies before leaving the office, we counted several hundreds of school bags, boxes of papers and other kids' items. We pulled out some of the school bags to be distributed at Al Hamid Public School, a co-ed school where there were 148 boys and 41 girls in grades one through six. Each kid would receive a school bag as a present for Eid Day, a big Muslim holiday. We left around 10:30 a.m., and as usual, I slept through most of the one-hour ride to the village because of motion sickness. As I opened my eyes, we had already arrived at Al Hamid Public School, and were welcomed by the Principal and the "honor," or land owner, of the school. Jill made a brief introduction of my visit, and they started talking about the needs in this community. The land owner estimated that rebuilding their community Mosque would cost approximately 61,000 Rupees (about 8,600 HKD), and Jill promised to get an engineer to inspect the site and verify the estimate. HK$8,600, about $1,100 U.S., doesn't seem like much to restore a focal point for the community. After the short meeting, we quickly moved inside the school to see the damage done by the quake. Most of the walls in the complex collapsed, and many others had big cracks. This complex clearly was not suitable or safe for the kids. The children and teachers spent most of their time in the open before they received the two school tents from Mercy Corps. Kids should be happy, laugh and learn through playing. The misfortune was that these kids have to face the fear of a collapsing school because of the quake; every time there is an aftershock, they scream and started running. That's why providing tents for classes is a priority for Mercy Corps. As soon as Jill and I stepped into one of the tents, the children chirped happily with their adorable voices, "Good morning Madam." My heart just melted seeing these angelic and innocent faces. Jill introduced me to the kids and asked if anyone knew where Hong Kong was. A boy stood up and answered with confidence, "China!" Several kids came forward to read passages from their Urdu textbook, English textbook, and even sang some sections of the Holy Koran. It was such an inspirational moment to have spent with these children. They are our future and we really need to cherish them, to get them back to their normal lives and unleash their potential. When our distribution was over, the principal made his final announcement and the kids started off for their homes. Jill and I left shortly after, rushing back to the Mansehra office to arrange for a vehicle for me to get back to Islamabad and to Hong Kong. Time to say goodbye to this welcoming city, the affectionate people and my amazing colleagues. Sha-gria (Thank you) to what this magnificent country had given me. Ku-da-vis (Goodbye)! I really loved to visit this country again, In-sha-la (Hopefully, by God's will)! Mon, 09 Jan 2006 11:17:26 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/1099/ I learned that I would be on a helicopter for today's distribution shortly after I arrived at the Mansehra guesthouse. Josh arranged all the heli distributions with the UN Humanitarian Air Service, and he got me a seat on this one. So, this morning at around 9:30 a.m., Ammar (another colleague of mine) and I got to the military airfield, where our workers and supply trucks awaited the heli's arrival. We joined the second sorte of distribution to Paloi Bagnu, more than 5,000 feet above sea level. Our mission for the day was to deliver 1,370 metal roofs, 137 stoves and 584 blankets to the villagers there. This was to be my time on a heli! Exciting! Around 10 a.m., Mr. Uri, the heli's Ukranian pilot, whipped up a massive sandstorm as he set down on the airstrip. Captain Uri stopped the engine and let our workers load the relief items. While Ammar supervised, Josh gave me a short safety briefing — with an emphasis of avoiding the back rotor (it's practically invisible when the engine is on). The front, he stressed, is always the safest place to go, and if in doubt, squat down, walk slowly and keep a fair distance. As soon as the loading was done, Josh, Ammar and I hopped onto the heli; we'd be back at the end of the sorte to pick up more supplies. Driving and walking might have taken us four hours to get to where the heli reached in 20 minutes. About 100 men, women and kids were already in place waiting for their roofing material, stoves and blankets. With the assistance of the Pakistani army, we managed to get the villagers to form lines to register for this distribution. Meanwhile, our co-pilot complained that the landing spot was not exactly secure because of two trees standing along the hillside. So two of our workers took turns felling the tree with an axe. With Mercy Corps Distribution Officer Wasim Afzal handling the registration, Josh suggested we go for a walk to see some of the shelters under construction. We walked the incredibly dangerous trails that the villagers walked with their CGIs, stoves and blankets. Being a city gal, I'm not much of a hiker. Slipping on trails that were littered with small pebbles, I almost fell to my death on one of the slopes that dropped off almost perpendicularly to the ground. Fortunately, I was able to hold on to a broken tree trunk and Ammar grabbed my back just in time, or the gravitational pull would have started me rolling down the slope like a misshapen ball. No injuries other than bruises were detected, and although it's really no big deal, I thought I would rather avoid telling my mom. Shhh…. When we got down to a relatively flat land, we finally saw a shelter under construction. On that very spot, I was told, five people died during the earthquake. The safest way to construct one of these shelters is to build a four-foot high foundation using stone and mud, erect wood walls and roof it with a sheet of CGI. Because this village lacked water, however, they could not make mud, so they were only able to lay the foundation with stones. Still, it's better than trying to fend off snow and rain at 5,000 feet in a tent. At this moment, I really felt for these villagers. "How tough a life they are living!" I thought to myself. It made me feel greedy to think about wanting a glass of fruit juice when they didn't even have water. It brought home the need to cherish everything that we have, because many things do not come to us as easily as we think. Thousands are living in these dire situations. Consider not buying an iPod — the same amount of money can pay for 128 days of labor to build winterized shelters or reconstruct one-third of an entire community mosque. Hiking back up to the heli pad posed another challenge. (I should really get back to jogging or some other cardio exercise…. ) I sweated like a pig on the way back up and collapsed on a traditional Pakistani bed — ropes thread through a wood frame — that lay beside the distribution desk. I just did not have the energy to do more, so I decided to go back to the airfield with Ammar to facilitate the next sorte. On our way back to the airfield, I saw how scattered these families were living, and how it required a good amount of time to travel up the hilltop to collect their relief items. Sun, 08 Jan 2006 07:03:19 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/1098/ As I came into the dining room for breakfast, Josh asked if I felt last night's aftershock. I must have been really, really tired, because I slept through the whole thing! My colleague, Jill, who is very sensitive to noise, told me there was a crack in her room and she heard her wardrobe trembling and rattling against the wall. She said these tremors have been taking place many nights, usually around 4 a.m. I wonder if there would be another one tonight! Today, I followed Charles Juhn, director of our Mansehra office, Dr. Umer and Dr. Khurram to see our health programs at two sites in the Siran Valley, Jabori and Nawazabad. We arrived at the Jabori Base Health Unit around 9 a.m. Here, our doctors provide 24-hour consultation, treatment and medicine to approximately 250-300 patients each day. One of our water-and-sanitation (wat/san) units is also there helping families fix the village's plumbing. I met with Qazi Rizwan Rashid, our wat/san engineer from Abbottabad, a local village in Mansehra. Qazi described that they were installing a water tank and pipes that would supply water to this health unit as well as the surrounding households. At the same time, a cash-for-work group was digging furiously in order to lay the foundation for the seven pre-fabricated structures that would replace the tents that house our basic health units. Soon, our doctors and patients will have a warmer place to provide and receive treatments as well as better storage space for medicines. As I stepped into the health tent, there was a little boy being treated by our doctor on duty. Many rural citizens of the North West Frontier Province did not have basic healthcare available to them even before the earthquake. In Hong Kong, there are doctors on seemingly every corner, but these villagers do not have the same convenience and privileges as we do. Many must hike several hours just to have a chance to get treated by our doctors. After seeing the progress of the shelters in this village, we moved onto Jabori, home to Mercy Corps' assistant logistics manager, Khurram. He invited us to his totally shattered house for chai. Khurram being his positive-minded self said to us, "What has happened, happened, there are nothing much we can do about that, but I will rebuild this house as soon as the government finishes assessing the damage, and get everything back to normal!" I believe as long as we keep the positive vibe going, everything can be conquered. Our next task was to scout for a site for a new Rural Health Unit tent in Nawazabad. This one would be a full-size, heavy-duty, winterized tent with a heating system, where villagers could sleep when the weather got too cold in the mountains but would mainly be for treatment and care for the villagers. We visited the site where the original health structure still stood but was badly damaged by the earthquake and have to be torn down once we got our tent up and running. But where? The space was incredibly limited. Some of the spots were full of rocks, others were just too close to the soon-to-be-leveled structure, so we had to move up the hill. Eventually we found the perfect site for our tent, which was also a Pakistani Military security point. Charles and Dr. Umer talked to the soldiers, who were very pleasant and kind-hearted. Not only were they all very welcoming of our arrival, they were also extremely accommodating to our idea, offering to relocate several of their own tents to make room for the health tent. Hidden beneath the tough appearances are beautiful, gentle and kind spirits. I see the magnificence of trust and understanding in such harsh times, which for me confirms the Confucian saying, "Kindness is the basic nature of men." Our mission fulfilled, we headed back to town, stopping on the way at the Mercy Corps warehouse to verify that our material aids were organized and securely stored. Sat, 07 Jan 2006 08:26:38 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/1097/ Yesterday, my first day in Pakistan, was spent at a UN coordination meeting in Islamabad. Today I'm helping our field teams deliver stoves and blankets and visiting villages where we're paying people to salvage whatever materials they can from earthquake-toppled homes. I awoke at 4 a.m. to get ready for the three-hour drive to our office in Mansehra, one of the hardest-hit areas of the mountainous North West Frontier Province. The sky was still dark and the streets deserted when Mercy Corps' driver, Mr. Yousaf, picked me up at 5 a.m. On our way out of town, we passed trucks loaded with chicken — poultry is one of Mansehra's biggest industries — headed into the capital. I slept for about half the trip, and chatted with Mr. Yousaf, a well-mannered and very kind-hearted man who spoke some English. I learned that he only goes home to see his wife and four kids, who live near Islamabad, every two weeks. Our idle chatting ended when Mr. Yousaf slowed down to show me a large apartment building that was destroyed by the earthquake. He recalled seeing many people crying and running around like ants on a hot pan, all shouting for help. Mr. Yousaf was lucky enough to be in the city during the quake, but it clearly had left a huge scar on many, both physically and emotionally. Around 8 a.m. Mr. Yousaf and I arrived at Mercy Corps guesthouse No. 1, where I met Mercy Corps' Josh Kreger, who is responsible for the aid distributions and shelter programs, and Sean Collins, the distribution and cash-for-work program leader. (Later I learned they are both fellow Canadians — Josh is from Winnipeg and Sean is from my home province of Ontario.) We had a quick breakfast and headed out, driving to the office before piling into a jeep four-by-four for our trip into the mountains. On our way there, Sean informed me that I wasn't the only visitor on this day's aid-delivery mission: we'd be picking up two ladies from one of our biggest donors, USAID, and four local journalists. Also joining us was Nadeem, Mercy Corps' community mobilizer. Our target location was Shakoora, a village in the Konch Valley, one of two valleys where Mercy Corps is working. It's filled with terraced, snow-covered farms and scattered houses. Soon after we started down the bumpy road to Shakoora, our logistics manager radioed that the road to the village was blocked. That meant heading to a different distribution point, Malkan, 20 minutes from Shakoora. So, the residents of Shakoora walked to Malkan. There, each household representative received one stove and four blankets. USAID funded most of the blankets, while the Hong Kong Disaster Relief Fund paid for the stoves and some of the blankets. I felt relieved seeing the smiles of these villagers. At last, they have something to keep them warm! When I pulled out my digital camera to take some pictures, the kids were shy at first, but then started to laugh and open up — especially after I showed them some of my shots! We finished up and took off around noon to distribution point number two, Sayd Abad Village. Here, local staff distributed the stoves and blankets while our delegation visited households participating in our cash-for-work shelter program. Residents in Sayd Abad Village had built 68 earthquake-resistant shelters from sheets of corrugated galvanized iron (CGI) and wood and other materials salvaged from collapsed houses. Our material-aid program coincided nicely with the cash-for-work program. As the shelters were finished, they were furnished with a wood-burning stove and blankets. It took 45 minutes on foot to reach the first shelter. Mr. Zeenad Khan, its builder and owner, received Rs150 each day as compensation for its construction. Mr. and Mrs. Khan have six kids, four girls and two boys, and belong to the Swati ethnic group, which follows the practice of arranged marriages that is common in this region. Mr. Khan told me he'd already arranged his oldest girl's marriage — she will marry her cousin soon after finishing high school. The Khans had received a stove, four blankets and also a latrine courtesy of Mercy Corps' busy water and sanitation teams, which had also repaired and installed water pipes and tanks in the village. Next we paid a visit to Mr. Shafiq Rahman, one of the cash-for-work supervisors. He is responsible for looking after 21 other workers assembling their own shelters. Mr. Rahman explained that the snow and the road conditions were so bad that he wished he had a pair of good boots so he could travel easily from shelter to shelter in order to fulfill his supervisory duties. I sympathized. The roads were muddy and covered with snow; some icy and steep stretches were extremely slippery. Several members of our team had fallen on our walk here. Mr. Rahman showed us his shelter, in which his daughter was just cooking lunch for the family with the stove provided by Mercy Corps. In gratitude, Mr. Rahman insisted we stay for some chai and biscuits. (I found Pakistanis to be extremely hospitable, warm and friendly!) These two shelters were among 107 constructed in Syad Abad village, and among 2,500 shelters in 42 villages province-wide. Another 1,500 are in construction. It was easy to see that these shelters are much warmer than the tents, and give families a much better sense of security from the cold, the snow and the aftershocks. We left the village a little after 2 p.m., walked another 30 minutes to our vehicles, and had a bumpy, 2-hour ride back to the office. On our way, we passed a big crowd in front of an army building. Sean and Nadeem explained that these were earthquake survivors collecting government compensation, which was doled out according to how severely the earthquake affected you. There are three tiers: Total damage of house and casualty of family members: 275,000 Rupees in installments Partial damage of house with no casualties in the family: four installments of 25,000 Rupees Affected by the quake in general: one or two installments of 25,000 Rupees Our long but productive day ended after a big program meeting called by Faiza, Mercy Corps' country director, at 9 p.m. Fri, 06 Jan 2006 10:04:45 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/1017/ Wali Khan is smiling now. A few weeks ago when he looked over northern Pakistan's Konch valley, there was not much to smile at. His home - like 90 percent of the homes in Bela village - was reduced to rubble. Food was scarce, livestock lost, no roof over his head - and the nights were becoming colder and colder. He, like the other families in Bela, received food, a tent and other critical items such as plastic sheets and blankets from Mercy Corps. The agency's emergency response team had managed to reach even the most distant and highest points of the isolated Konch and Siran valleys. But the weather continued to deteriorate and Wali realized that his four children would not survive a winter at elevations higher than 6,000 feet. Snow was quickly filling the valley and blocking all access routes to and from the village. Mercy Corps stepped up with a solution for Wali's family and hundreds of other vulnerable households in the area - an innovative cash-for-work program to build winter shelters. The program is mostly using recovered materials from destroyed homes to build these heavy-duty, multi-family buildings. Wali signed up for the cash-for-work program, one of more than 100 men and women in his village to do so. In a manner of days, program participants have constructed 53 shelters while earning income to support their families. "Now my family will be warm this winter," Wali said. Serving the most vulnerable In another part of Bela village, Roshi, a recent widow, works with her daughters-in-law on their new winter home. Mercy Corps stresses the importance of taking care of the most vulnerable members of any community - namely widows, orphans and handicapped. Everyone in Bela village has pitched in to help Roshi build her house, including the women. Women are an integral part of our programs around the world. Mercy Corps strongly encourages communities that women be allowed to participate as much as possible. In fact, about 25 percent of the cash-for-work laborers in Pakistan are women, while Bela tops the list boasting a 40 percent female workforce. All women get paid the same daily wages as men. Through the ever-expanding cash-for-work program, Mercy Corps has helped build shelters for over 2,600 households. Nearly 30,000 beneficiaries have been reached already. Our emergency teams continue to deliver items such as blankets, stoves, sheets and tools to help vulnerable families get through the winter. Thu, 15 Dec 2005 10:19:36 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/978/ In Battal, a town whose schools were flattened by October's earthquake, Mercy Corps helped re-open tented schools and stepped in to supply students with bookbags, textbooks, coloring books, crayons and other items. Fri, 11 Nov 2005 09:39:54 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/960/ Seattle entrepreneur Richard Berger proved that one person can make a difference. Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:12:19 -0800 http://www.mercycorps.org/topics/emergencies/943/ It's been a year full of natural calamities. Learn how Mercy Corps is able to muster swift responses - and keep focused on the work of building healthy and stable communities. Thu, 20 Oct 2005 10:33:10 -0700 http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/pakistan/923/ Mercy Corps communications officer Cassandra Nelson reports on weather conditions, the state of survivors and the aid response in earthquake-ravaged Pakistan. Tue, 18 Oct 2005 10:03:36 -0700