The 8th October 2005 was one of the worst disasters in
the history of Pakistan. Official figures by the
government of Pakistan state that over 73,000 people
died and tens of thousands were injured in the northern
areas of Pakistan as a result of this earthquake.
Pakistanis in general and the international community
responded with great generosity to try and provide
relief to the devastated people of Kashmir and NWFP.
The Petarian Foundation formed a joint venture with the
Abdalian Association to mobilize its largest relief
effort to date, and moved their people and resources to
Bagh District in AJK. Our teams arrived at Bagh within 4
days of the disaster and set up camp at Rerah, a small
trading village located around 10 Km beyond Bagh.
The Petarian Foundation / Abdalian Association teams scoured the mountainsides
to survey the extent of disaster and to enumerate the
level of destruction (deaths, injuries and damages to
homes). Based on this assessment, the foundation
distributed tents, quilts, blankets, clothes and food
rations to the affected population in the villages
around Rerah. This activity continued for nearly a
month, when the focus shifted towards rehabilitation of
the uprooted people.
A control and command center was established at
Islamabad to provide logistical support and supplies to
our camp at Rerah, Bagh.
A second important activity during this period was to
provide emergency medical assistance to the injured
people. During the initial 4-6 weeks after the disaster,
our camp had between 5-8 doctors on duty round the clock
to cater to the wounds and other diseases.
A third important activity was to provide gifts to
children of the earthquake refugees who were housed in
thousands at the H-11 camp in Islamabad. Over 2,000
children were given new clothes to wear for the
celebration of Eid, which took place barely 3 weeks
after the earthquake.
During the initial period, we published frequent reports
on our activities and the situation on the ground.
Please click right
click here to download these reports in PDF
format.
Subsequently, the relief activities converged into the
development of Sarbuland
Village, which was managed by the Petarian
Foundation for two and a half years.
Click here for more
details on the Sarbuland Village Project