Stories from Earthquake Volunteers
A number of volunteers have slowly returned home and are narrating stories which are really touching. The suffering is endless, these poor people were already strapped for cash before the tragedy are now simply devastated. Having lost a few members of their family, including all their possessions including their shelter which took many years to build, everything has been wiped out. They have no where to go, no work to do and are hungry to return to normal life. Simply said they are devastated and there is a chance that this depression if it lasts long has the potential to turn into anger and frustration against the country. The helping hand should be immediate and generous
A number of doctor teams that I knew were stationed at Muzzafarabad inside Neelam Ground. They did a commendable job in their few weeks of work, almost doing a 24-hour OT with upwards of 500 surgeries a day, surely a super human effort. The surgeries initially ranged from the first aid type fractures and other deep wounds, and later was gangrenous tissue amputations and other sepsis wounds. An interesting point they observed that probably due to the high nature of immunity of these people it was remarkable to see only one death due to sepsis, which should have been higher in other locations, surely higher immunity will help them out. The surgeries were ghastly and many surgeons claim that the smell of gangrenous tissue still haunts them today despite a serious scrubbing with hydrogen peroxide. I feel these heroic volunteers did what they can with the limited resources but proudly served their nation in this crisis
An important observation was also noted by these doctors that they saw many secondary injuries like paralysis and other injuries that were not directly related to the Earthquake but due to mishandling by the illiterate rescuers, who lugged and carried these people improperly to the hospital. This is not to point a blaming finger at the people but more so as a lesson to the govt to educate the people on simple basic life support. God Forbid if we ever have to go through this again, we should be a little more prepared.
The point you raised about educating people is a must now.
there is some updates on the situation in pak earthquake zone by a brother who is currently visiting the area
http://islamiblog.blogspot.com
I heard some dissappointing stories as well
with regards
FM
I know…
My khaluu lives in Wah Cantt., and he was volunteering too at Balakot. He told us sooo many touching stories when he got back from there… I couldn’t get over them…
[...] in millions of dollars in damage. A few of my older posts Have You Forgotten? October 8th 2005, Stories from Earthquake Volunteers, Where am I?& [...]