World Vision Responds to Devastating Earthquake
'Can you help us bury our dead?' survivors asking aid agency
World Vision, the international Christian humanitarian organisation, is sending assessment teams to three of the most
severely damaged areas of Pakistan and India affected by today's earthquake.
"The situation is desperate, several villages have been decimated," says Sigurd Hanson, World Vision director in
Pakistan. "The people I've spoken to have asked World Vision for relief supplies and burial cloths, saying, 'We know
you. Can you help us bury our dead?"
Working along side other humanitarian organisations, the World Vision teams will be conducting assessments in Mansehra,
Kashmir and the Shangla and Kohistan districts, Hanson said.
"I feel the aftershocks as I sit here trying to contact my staff in the north," Hanson said. "What complicates things is
that it's remote and the roads are most likely destroyed."
World Vision has been working with local communities in northern Pakistan for two years in response to a series of
natural disasters, including flooding, severe snowstorms and landslides.
Helen Green, CEO of World Vision New Zealand said the agency will commit $50,000 up front as an immediate initial
response from New Zealand. "It's another tragedy for a region that is continually reeling from both natural and man-made
disasters," she said.
As with similar disasters, the immediate needs for survivors include blankets, food, water and medicines. All items are
available for purchase locally, Hanson said.
WV has worked in Pakistan in the 1980's and closed its programmes in Pakistan due to political instability. The offices
were re-opened in 2001 and staff have been engaged in health and other relief activities.
To donate to World Vision New Zealand's appeal for the Pakistan earthquake, please phone 0800 80 2000.