Case Study 7: Each Tent Saves a Family

Name: Col. Zakeer
Place: Battagram Base, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan
Date: 17 October 2005

The earthquake that hit northern Pakistan on Oct 8, 2005, has shattered millions of lives. The survivors are in desperate need of help. The government; Church World Service and other aid agencies; and the Pakistan Army are carrying out desperate relief efforts to reach those survivors who are based in far-flung areas that are hardest to reach. Relief efforts are being hampered due to mudslides and heavy rain and hail storms. Snowfall has also started in some areas. The aftershocks continue to remind the survivors of the terrible disaster that changed their lives on October 8, 2005.

Amid these challenges, Church World Service has been able to mobilize and distribute shelter kits and food packages in North West Frontier Province. The Pakistan Army has been very cooperative in this regard, and has been airlifting Church World Service (CWS) relief good to areas of Allai-Battagram that are not reachable through roads. Applauding CWS efforts, Col. Zakeer said that so far CWS has been the largest donor of shelter and food packages in this area. Talking to the CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan team, he stressed the importance of each tent that is being provided.

"With each tent provided, a family is being saved," said Col. Zakeer. Temperatures will further drop in the next fifteen days, which will make survival next to impossible for those people living out in the open, feared Col. Zakeer, as he appealed for more tents.

Church World Service is helping to provide shelter kits (family-sized tent, ground sheet, plastic sheet, two iron poles, and four blankets), as well as family food packages, to 20,000 of the worst-affected families.

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