This is the account of a single team member of SARAID, written after the team deployed to Pakistan in 2005. This account contains some strong imagery. It is not intended to offend, it is intended to illustrate the massive devastation that is caused by natural disasters - and the huge efforts given by SARAID and other teams from around the world to help save lives and reduce human sufering.
Please remember that each member of SARAID is a volunteer and gives up their time freely.
- Initial Reports and the team deploying.
"It felt like the beginning of Mission Impossible 2, at 08:50 on Saturday 8th October 2005, there I was, rock climbing with my eldest son when my mobile phone rang as I was halfway up the rock we were climbing.
On answering the call it was a team member telling me there had been a serious earthquake in Pakistan and was I available to be part of the team going out to assist in the search & rescue of survivors?
I confirmed that I was available and having descended the rock returned home immediately to prepare and help organize for the mission. During the day further information came in about the quake, the number of people affected & it became apparent that this was becoming a more and more serious incident.
I was assigned the task of handling the logistics’ to get the team out to Pakistan, so I spent most of the day on the phone to several airlines trying to arrange 15 seats, plus cargo space for 1.5 tons of equipment on the next available flight to Islamabad
The first available flight was at 8pm the next day next evening so having prepared all I could I settled down to try to get some sleep.
The team assembled at Heathrow airport at 1pm on Sunday and met with a representative from the Pakistan embassy to get the necessary visa’s to allow us into Pakistan. After loading the kit onto the plane we head back to the departure area and onto the overnight flight to Islamabad
- Teams arrival in Pakistan
We arrive in Pakistan at 07:30 the next morning and spent the rest of the day traveling by road to North of Pakistan to a town called Muzaffarabad. Which was close to the epicenter of the earthquake.
As we got further North the evidence of the quake becomes more obvious and after several hair raising moments negotiating round collapsed roads and landslides and half collapsed tunnels we arrive at 01:15 on Tuesday morning. After reporting to the United Nations control center we set up a camp and got some sleep.
At 06:00 we set out from camp on our first job to search a local boarding school. Not the nicest of jobs to start with as most of the children were asleep in dormitories when the quake struck and as we arrive on site the Pakistani army are removing dead bodies of the children, a very sobering sight seeing all those small shapes covered in white sheets laid out in rows.
We start work straight away searching what’s left of the buildings looking for survivors but it becomes clear that those that have survived are already out, we finish clearing the buildings, without finding anyone. We finished at just after 11 am just as the skies open and it pours down, as we head back to the base camp on our truck we pass another team from the UK about to start searching a hospital accommodation area. Like us, they found no one alive.
On the way back we are stopped in traffic behind an aide distribution lorry. As soon as it stops it’s surrounded by people climbing on it trying to pull off the food, water & clothing it has on board. We watch the chaos unfold in front of us then our driver decides it’s not safe to stay in the area so take a turning down a side street.
As we go down the street we come across another group of locals sitting at the side of the road. Our driver stops to talk with them and we learn that this is the old Medina area of the town and no rescue teams or the army have been in the area since the quake hit.
The locals tell us voices have been heard from collapsed houses in the area. Taking the GPS coordinates of the street we head back to base & notify the UN coordination center of what we have learnt.
They stand us down for 3 hours rest but tell us we will be leading and coordinating a thorough search of the medina area by several international teams. At 5:30 pm after grabbing food and an hour’s sleep we reassemble to find teams from Korea, the UK Fire and Rescue Service and Germany ready to accompany us. We reach the search area just as darkness starts to fall and begin to search.
After about an hour the SARAID team hear noises from one of the buildings, and triangulate where it is coming from. As members of the team head back to the truck to get more equipment the others start looking for a way into the building.
After carefully moving some of the rubble we slowly start to tunnel into the building, after about 6 feet they come across the casualty, an old man. He seems fine but doesn't’t seem able to see anything. Slowly the team free him and carry him out of the building to the street where we put him on a stretcher and take him back to the assembly point where the vehicles are waiting.
At the vehicles the old man seems much better and has regained his sight after being trapped for several days in total darkness. We help him to his feet and he is able to stand & walk unaided, after giving him some water he seems totally ok, just a little disorientated. Two team members are assigned to take him back to the UN base while the remainder continue searching.
The search continues for two more hours until shots are heard in the area, a householder defending what is left of their possessions. The order comes from the UN that it is too dangerous for us to stay in the area due to the shooting, so we return to base camp at 01:15 and turn in for the night.
At first light the team are up again ready to go. At the daily team leaders briefing SARAID are congratulated on leading the successful mission the night before & tasked with returning to the area again to carry on searching.
The team arrives back at the medina and meet up with a search dog team from Japan. As we start to continue the search again it becomes apparent in daylight just how big the whole area is and that this is something that will take a long time to search.
As we walk through the narrow streets through & over what is left of the market district, the smell of death is all around us. Despite this the quiet dignity of the people who live in the area, people who have lost everything is moving.
They smile and welcome us as we work, offering us food and drink from the aid parcels they had been given, it’s all they have, yet they want to share it with us to show their thanks for coming to help them.
- A possible second contact for the team.
We complete our sweep of the first area to be searched and return to our truck. A Turkish team in the area have pulled out another survivor. Good news. After a water & food break, the team back out to continue the search.
Talking to a local family we are told of a building nearby where there are reports of a young girl trapped. Her mother and sister ran out of the house as the earthquake hit but the youngest daughter, Ama was trapped in the building.
The team head to the building and two rescue dogs run over the area confirming signs of life, the girl is still alive. The team starts work immediately, the building is too unstable to dig into straight away so we spend several hours shoring it up until it is “safe” to work on.
The team works straight into the night until at 11:30 a large aftershock (5.3 on the Richter scale) shakes the area causing further collapse. The damage is done the aftershock has destabilized the building further making it totally unsafe to work on further. The team leader makes the heartbreaking decision to pull the team back to base until daylight when the situation can be re-assessed.
The next day the team leader & deputy team leader return to the site with a Polish heavy rescue team. When they arrive they allow the rescue dogs to check the site again. This time the dogs don’t show any sign of life.
A further careful reconnaissance shows that the aftershock caused the building to further collapse killing Ama. There was nothing more the team could have done to save her but the fact that we didn't’t is something we will have to live with.
Back at base camp the other British teams have been ordered to pull out back to the UK.
As SARAID are an independent team we decide to stay to complete our search of the medina. We head back out and continue the search into the night until again sounds of automatic gunfire in the area surround us forces us to return to camp.
At the base camp we report in to the UN Coordination center and are told that all Rescue teams are being pulled out the next day as the decision has been made to end the search and rescue phase of the relief operation and move into the Humanitarian Aid stage.
The space occupied in the base camp by the rescue teams is needed for the Humanitarian Aid teams & their supplies. We head off to get some sleep
- Making way for the incoming Humanitarian Teams.
Waking at first light the next day the base camp is a buzz of activity, all around us the rescue teams are packing up as the aid convoys start to arrive.
We mange to locate space on a transport bus heading back to Islamabad and start our long journey home.
As we notify the UN center that we are leaving they tell us that a total of 8 people were rescued from the medina market area we had identified as needing searching. Overall 25 people were rescued from the town.
We arrive back arriving at Islamabad at 2 am and after some more negotiations with Pakistan International Airlines get us booked in on a flight back to the UK at 10am that morning.
We check all out kit in to be loaded and relax thanks to the hospitality of PIA’s first class lounge. The flight leaves on time and we arrive back in the UK at 4pm.
It takes 45 minutes to clear our kit through customs and out into the arrivals area to be greeted by our families & loved ones.
My experiences in Pakistan are a roller coaster of emotions. From the heartbreak of searching the school and unsuccessful rescue of Ama to the highs of rescuing the old man and knowing that our perseverance in searching the medina area had lead to 8 people being rescued alive, to the quiet dignity & generosity of the Pakistani people we encountered while searching the medina."
(SARAID Team Member) |
