Relief for Earthquake Victims
Pakistan: DAHW with Ruth Pfau and Chris Schmotzer on the Field
The earthquake on October 8, 2005 in the North of Pakistan has made a lasting impression on its survivors. 24-year-old Fasal from Balakot, the epicentre of the earthquake, recollects: „I heard an uncanny crashing noise and had the impression that the earth is bursting. I saw stone and boulders avalanche down the mountains and everything became immersed in a cloud of dust. I thought that the world was coming to an end and that not even a hope existed any more. Houses and shops had caved in, people were screaming and shouting for help.“
More than two million euros for reconstruction
The German doctor and protestant nun, Dr. Chris Schmotzer, who manages a DAHW-supported Leprosy and Tuberculosis control programme in the affected region, initiated emergency relief immediately after the earthquake. She reported to Germany shortly afterwards: „Balakot has been practically wiped off the face of the map, you can see caved in houses, people shivering with cold in the fields, injured and dead persons. We were received amidst many tears. We were evidently the first team to make it there. We opened a provisional treatment centre in the hospital ruins. I used a cupboard which had fallen over as my desk, doors placed on stones were used as treatment tables. It didn‘t take long until the rush of injured people began.“
Leprosy/TB doctor, and nun, Dr. Ruth Pfau, born in Leipzig, who has been working with the support of DAHW since the beginning of the 1960s in Pakistan, was in the Kashmir region at that time. She drove further into the earthquake area with a small team of people. They attached a tarpaulin to their jeep and treated the injured outdoors, obtained tents and even started their Tuberculosis work again after ten days
Immediately after the earthquake, DAHW decided to grant their partners in Pakistan financial emergency relief and then sent an emergency appeal to the donors and turned to the press. The reaction was staggering. Up to the end of 2005, more than 2.4 million euros were received for the projects in Pakistan. These donations make DAHW strong enough to significantly support their working partners in Pakistan, and to support patients and their families in the region on the long path back to normality and to secure the Leprosy and Tuberculosis work.
Directly after the first emergency relief phase, our partners ensured that controlled treatment of those ill with Tuberculosis remained possible. If the health services weren‘t to continue their work, many people would die or would develop resistance against the TB medicines.
DAHW and their partners helped Leprosy sufferers and their families. They brought material for the provisional construction of huts. Now they are planning the long-term reconstruction of houses and treatment centres for the ill.
Dr. Schmotzer treats an injured person.
Balakot was completely destroyed by the earthquake.
