8 October morning,8.48 AM, Iqbal aged 5 was in school,Fatima,18 years was attending Botany class in her college,Zohra,33 cleaning her kitchen,Murad,45 dealing customers in his bakery.
8.50 AM,earth jolted,a sudden complete silence,all voices vanished in the thunder of huge Himalayan mountains.
8.51 AM,in a matter of moment,it was all ruined,nothing left behind,only cries of death.Iqbal,Fatima,Murad,Zohra,and thousands more were burried deep in the huge concrete,iron structures,no one was there to listen the cries of those still alive.
On the day a devastating tragedy hit Northern Pakistan,killing more than 51,000(official figure,unofficial figures are much higher)and injuring more than 79,000(official figure).Nearly 3.5 million people are now shelter less,facing bitter himalayan winter,hunger, disease,and a no brighter future.
Even after two weeks,the relief efforts in many remote areas are at very low level,no transportation available for these areas,as long stretches of many roads disappeared under massive landslides.
Local and International communities are now at the relief work,International community pledged an aid of 600 million $,but termed as "totally in adequate "by President Pervez Musharraf. He and his team estimated reconstruction needs of 5 billion $. UN emergency coordinator Jan Egeland,described the situation as unprecedented in scale,appealed for a huge help and called for a "second Berlin airlift" type action.Turkish prime minister Tayyap Erdogan,the first foriegn leader to visit the disaster area,made a donations of 150 million $,and asked International Leaders to do more.
This is no doubt a huge disaster,not only for the people of Pakistan but for the entire humanity too,we,as mankind are no doubt divided by many vicious circles,but the ultimate truth is that we are "same",breathing in the "same flow"of time,living on the "same planet".
Pilgrims of Peace Org: appeals the International community to come forward and "share the pain".