United States Provides $2.5 Million in Relief Aid to Pakistan

14 November 2008

(Humanitarian assistance helps needy in southwest earthquake zone)

By Jacquelyn S. Porth
Staff Writer

Washington — In the wake of a series of four earthquakes measuring over 6 points on the Richter Scale and the dozens of aftershocks that rocked Balochistan, in southwestern Pakistan, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) moved swiftly to send money and aid to help people in the area.

Transitional shelters have been flown in to help people who have lost their homes and are facing sub-zero temperatures.  So far, USAID has provided $2.5 million to international and nongovernmental partners working in the earthquake-damaged zone.  In some remote locations, the earthquakes triggered landslides, which further complicated delivery of relief supplies.

Trucks carrying plastic sheeting to be used for temporary shelters first began arriving in the provincial capital of Quetta November 3. The sheeting has since been distributed to the hardest hit villages in the district of Ziarat, which is 60 kilometers (37 miles) to the north.

The estimated number of Pakistanis killed in the earthquakes of October 29 ranges from 200 to 500, with another 500 reported injured and more than 100,000 now homeless.  USAID director Henrietta Fore expressed sympathy for Pakistan and responded quickly to U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson’s request for aid.

USAID already had members of a Disaster Assistance Response Team in Pakistan and dispatched it to the earthquake region, where the immediate damage included the collapse of more than 4,000 mud and wood houses.

International Community Rallies To Pakistan's Aid

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) — one of the organizations through which the United States is channeling aid — estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 Pakistanis were affected by the October quakes.  The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said the ICRC provided emergency health care, water and sanitation supplies to those in the earthquake zone.

Balochi governor Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi requested blankets and winter clothing for earthquake survivors, some of whom have become ill with pneumonia.

The ICRC has answered that specific request and has also distributed tents, antibiotics, painkillers and treatments to fight skin infections.

AmeriCare sent medicines to the affected area and has offered water purification tablets.

The World Food Programme sent medicines and dry food rations, including wheat flour and salt, to 15,000 people in Ziarat and 5,000 in Pishin.  It also provided vegetable oil and ready-to-eat biscuits in Ziarat.

The World Health Organization determined that 10 of 38 health facilities in Ziarat were damaged and another three were destroyed.

Pakistan’s air force has flown in doctors, tents, sleeping bags and mats, quilts and blankets, and food for those in need.  China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran and Japan are involved in the relief effort.

UNICEF has been active providing clean drinking water.

These earthquakes occurred just three years after the devastating earthquake of 2005 that hit northern Pakistan, killing more than 75,000 people.  Since then, the United States has provided $2 billion in emergency aid to help improve health and education in Pakistan and to stimulate economic growth and democratic governance.  (See “Pakistan Makes Impressive Recovery from 2005 Earthquake.”)

More information about U.S. aid to Pakistan is available on the USAID Web site.