by Ken Horn, 01/01/2006, Today's Pentecostal Evangel, World Missions Edition.

Editor’s note: Managing Editor Ken Horn traveled to Pakistan with a disaster assessment team that included Rick Salvato of HealthCare Ministries and Dave Wenrich of Convoy of Hope International. Following are excerpts from Horn’s journal of the trip.

PAKISTAN is reeling from the blow of a deadly magnitude 7.6 earthquake that killed tens of thousands, flattened whole communities and left millions homeless. The northern Kashmir area of the country has become a vast graveyard, with virtually no sanitation systems or clean drinking water. Millions are at risk of exposure with the advancing winter in the mountainous Himalayan region. We intend to go to the worst hit areas.

ISLAMABAD

We go through customs more quickly than usual. New lines have opened, labeled “Earthquake Facilitation” and “International Help. Thank You.” Customs officials are desperate for help and treat us well.

Our host, Assemblies of God representative Keith Talkington, pastor of Protestant International Church, experienced earthquakes when he pastored in Japan, but none were like this one. He was in his first-floor office when it hit. “I stood up at my desk and started out the door,” he said, “but the floor was moving so badly I just went underneath my desk.”

Last Sunday, he tells us, the church was full of very tired relief workers.

Aftershocks continue. We feel three of them shortly after arriving. The largest, a magnitude 5.4 temblor, lasts for nearly a minute. People are terrified when the aftershocks hit.

We meet with national Assemblies of God leadership and find that local churches have already sprung into action and are ready to partner with the efforts that HealthCare Ministries and Convoy of Hope will map out. Len Stitt, an Assemblies of God representative working with Shelter Now International, will coordinate the relief efforts.

Islamabad’s only serious damage occurred at Margala Towers. More than 60 died when the 10-story building collapsed, damaging buildings on either side. Four bodies were discovered today, and the search continues.

MUZAFFARABAD

We are up before sunrise. Today we will drive hundreds of kilometers on winding mountain roads. Portions of the roads are crumbled, marked by makeshift piles of stones to delineate the perceived safety line. As we approach Muzaffarabad, the regional capital and one of the worst-hit cities in Kashmir, we see people in tents. Many are wearing masks for protection from odors and contaminants. We pass buildings where workers still hunt for bodies.

The Neelum Hotel, once a 12-story building, is now a flat pile of rubble. (See cover photo.) Though all bodies have been recovered, the odor of rotting flesh lingers, emanating from human limbs left behind.

Much of life in Pakistan seems to go on as before, but areas of earthquake devastation are frequent. Throughout the city, people pick through mounds of clothes — one relief item available in abundance.

The staging area for nongovernmental organizations in Muzaffarabad and the surrounding area is a tent city. Hundreds of aid workers from around the globe are staying here.

At the U.N. Emergency Response Center, the U.N. coordinator tells us they are racing against the clock. Roads will soon be cut off by winter weather. Many residents don’t have tents, and more could die of exposure than the number directly attributed to the earthquake. “The biggest need here, by far, is tents,” he tells us.

Orthopedic doctors are desperately needed too. Injuries include lots of untreated broken bones, which can lead to infection, gangrene and death. A new wave of deaths already has begun among those who didn’t receive treatment after their limbs were crushed.

No search and rescue teams are available. Food is badly needed in areas that have no road access north and east of Muzaffarabad. About 570 tons of food a day are needed for the next several months. Blankets are another critical need.

People returning to their damaged homes are being killed by aftershocks. One medical team set up in a hospital that appeared stable — until an aftershock destroyed much of it. “Landslides are opening and closing these roads like clockwork,” we are told. All relief workers must be self-sufficient, supplying their own food, water and tents.

BAGH

On our way to Bagh, we face a closed road, forcing us to turn around and find another, longer way. Families, groups of women and children, and sometimes only children sit alongside the road. One group of three children occupies a mattress at the roadside. A lot of tents are in Bagh — and a lot of people are sleeping outside.

RAWALAKOT

In Rawalakot, virtually all the buildings have cracks that get bigger with every aftershock. Military personnel tell us that every single household in Rawalakot requires a tent.

ABBOTTABAD

The large Ayub Hospital has been completely displaced. Everything has been moved into tents on the grounds. A man approaches our car. “Where are you from?” he asks Dave Wenrich, his hand outstretched. When Dave replies, “The United States,” the man responds, “Thank you very much for your help.”

BALAKOT

A rockslide blocks our path, stalling dozens of vehicles on either side of a mountain pass just outside Balakot. The day we arrived in Pakistan, 20 people were killed by a rockslide caused by rain and aftershocks.

As we wait for the road to be cleared, a man approaches us. A banker from Karachi, he is trying to get into Balakot because all employees at the bank there lost their homes.

Pakistan Assemblies of God Leads the Way

An article in Pakistan’s largest English-language newspaper, The International News (Internet edition), entitled “Assemblies of God Church’s help lauded,” by Zarghon Shah, read, in part:

“Quake-affected residents of Balakot have appreciated the assistance and sympathy of their Christian brothers who rushed to the area to extend whatever help they could in the hour of need.

“A considerate team from the Assemblies of God Church, Peshawar, visited Balakot and distributed essentially needed relief goods including blankets and edibles. [They] also prayed with tears in their eyes for the devastated families.

“… The prayers [were] led by [Assemblies of God Pastor] A.R. Hashmat and Bishop Ernest Jacob…. They specifically prayed for the grieved mothers of the school-going children.

“… ‘Our Christian brothers have won our heart and we cannot forget their gesture of kindness, love and affection in this terrible moment,’ said Syed Qaiser Shah, former councillor of Garlat and a social figure of the area.

“He said the relief goods, particularly thousands of blankets presented by the Christian brothers, would considerably reduce the suffering of the quake victims, specifically in the ascending winter. He thanked the Assemblies of God Church, Peshawar, for such splendid help.”

Mark Hausfeld, AGWM area director for Central Eurasia, commented, “Before the quake there was no [AG] presence at all. God makes the most out of tragedy and now the door is open.”

Back on the road, we round a bend and come upon a scene resembling atomic destruction. A city of 35,000 is fl attened, with 90 percent of the people dead. Rubble is everywhere, the dust still rising. The smoke is thick from the many intermittent fires. People sit by fresh graves, wringing their hands. One woman sits on the ground alone, staring blankly at one large grave and three small ones. People use whatever instruments they can find to dig graves.

Most people in the city now are not residents. They have come down from villages higher in the mountains. At least people here have tents. Those who have not made the difficult journey down have nothing.

Nearby the search for bodies continues. Workers look exhausted.

I stop to talk to individuals coming up a trail. One man tells me all in his family were killed except for him. Muhammad Ibraham, 55, lost six children. Aziz Rahman, his arm in a sling, tells me he lost four sons and four daughters. Abdur Raman lost a daughter and a son. All of these lost their homes.

The parade of people with tragic stories continues. Their despair and the enormity of the need are staggering.

Staggering too is one nearby tragedy. A school where 495 out of 500 children died has been turned into a mass burial ground. The scene is just one part of a larger picture, but it is monumental in itself.

As I talk to a government worker who laments he no longer has a job, a body is discovered in the ruins of a nearby building. The smell of decaying flesh is strong as they carry the body past us. I am grateful when a Pakistani relief worker brings me a surgical mask.

On our way out, we drive past one demolished building, where only a sign is left standing. Ironically, the sign reads, “Paradise in Balakot.”

BATTAL

Hundreds of people have come from their small villages to Battal, a small town in itself. One young man tells us he walked five hours from his snowbound village. Towns like this are stretched beyond capacity to meet needs.

Three schools were demolished here by the quake. In one school, 63 children perished; in another, 85. The search continues in the third.

Col. Khalid briefs us in the Pakistani army relief camp. Stats posted in the command tent read: “Battal sector: number of villages — 30; population — 21,800; damage — 95 percent; casualties — 2,250; dead — 350, many of them schoolchildren; injured — 1,900.”

Khalid stresses the need for doctors. A team of nine Hungarian doctors saw 1,000 patients but left yesterday.

DADAR

At Dadar many homes are not destroyed, but the structures are too dangerous to inhabit. People sit on beds outside them. Those who lost their homes sit on top of the rubble. Col. Shaaid tells us that people from the mountains have crowded into relief camps here. They stand in lines or large groups awaiting supplies.

JABORI

At 4,000 feet elevation, this is the highest and most remote area of our trip. Many refugees are here, but the military tells us they are having difficulty coaxing people out of their homes higher in the Himalayas. Many sit in tiny remote villages on piles of rubble that were once their homes. Doctors and relief supplies are desperately needed.

ISLAMABAD

Back at the airport, the majority of the passengers on our flight are relief workers. Rick Salvato, Dave Wenrich and I reflect on our brief, unforgettable days here. Rick considers Jabori the most needy area we visited. He will return there with a medical team from HealthCare Ministries. The U.S. military has agreed to steer willing health workers from America to HCM for coordination.

Dave will work primarily on the greatest need — tents. Already several hundred are on the way.

Within a few days of the quake, the initial media blitz subsided, but the need remains critical. The multitudes at risk must not be forgotten. Christians were among the first to respond to the immense need in Pakistan. I pray they also will be among those who continue to help the suffering.

Ken Horn is managing editor of Today's Pentecostal Evangel.

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