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October 29, 2008

CWS sends initial supplies to Pakistan quake survivors

by Lesley Crosson
Church World Service

NEW YORK/QUETTA, Pakistan  — The Pakistan staff of international humanitarian agency Church World Service (CWS) is on the ground and assisting survivors of a powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake that struck the southwestern province of Baluchistan earlier today.

With offices in Quetta, about 37 miles from the epicenter of the quake, CWS has significant operational presence in the region and has been able to mount immediate response. Six CWS team members and six staff from one of the agency’s local implementing partners are conducting initial needs assessments in the hard-hit mountainous region.

From Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, CWS communications officer Shama Mall said CWS had relief supplies pre-positioned in its Karachi warehouse and that initial aid items are now en route for immediate relief.

“We’ve dispatched 1,000 winterized tents, 4,000 blankets, 4,000 hygiene kits, and we will initially be able to provide food package for 100 families,” Mall said.

Agencies in the region have so far reported 350 dead, thousands homeless, and more than 1,800 injured. “The reports are changing by the hour,” she said.

Areas hit by the earthquake are Pishin, Ziarat, Qila Abdullah, Chaman, Loralai, Sibbi and Mastung, with numerous collapsed houses and buildings. Most severely damaged is Ziarat, which has a population of about 50,000. Eight villages in the hilly Ziarat district have been badly affected and there are still many areas that have not yet been reached by emergency personnel.

Church World Service offices across Pakistan implemented a major response to the 7.6 magnitude October 2005 earthquake in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir that killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million.