The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Chance for India, Pakistan to build on

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 16, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Chance for India, Pakistan to build on

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Indian offer of help to earthquake victims was well received, says U.S. Vice-Consul

Christopher Wurst. — Photo:R. Ragu

CHENNAI: The devastating earthquake in Kashmir and the subsequent Indian help presented both countries an opportunity to build on, according to Christopher Wurst, Vice-Consul, Public Affairs, United States Consulate in South India, Chennai.

"I am an optimist. I got this sense that this was an opportunity to build on." His observations were based on his interactions with many relief workers in Pakistan. There were some irritants, but these were minor, he said. Speaking to The Hindu after his return from Pakistan, where he helped in the relief efforts, Mr. Wurst said the Indian offer of help was "well received" in Pakistan. The disaster, though mind numbing, could bring the people of both the countries together like never before. Mr. Wurst said the earthquake kindled the spirit of volunteerism in Pakistan, as the December 2004 tsunami did in India. "Indians ... bonded as a nation [after the tsunami]. I think that has happened in Pakistan too. I talked to a lot of people who said they had never been up in the mountains before. They could not speak the same language as the affected. But here they were."

Mr. Wurst was summoned to Pakistan because the U.S. Embassy "needed more bodies to help coordinate the effort." The disaster management training he had undergone and his stint as duty officer here in the aftermath of the tsunami came in handy. "I was brought because the Embassy was besieged with people... In the space of two or three weeks, hundreds and hundreds of people descended on Islamabad to help in the relief effort."

Two disasters

The two disasters (the earthquake and the tsunami) could not be compared, because "in some ways the tsunami was a lot more black and white. It came, it destroyed, and it left. And the next day and the day after you could sort of assess... the problem there [in Pakistan] is much more fluid." Every second counted in the massive relief effort in Pakistan. It was a race against the winter. "It is more difficult in the earthquake, because I do not think we can assess exactly what the damage is, what needs to be done... The tsunami killed people that were directly in its way." It was different up in the cold mountains. "Here you have a lot more people that are vulnerable" because the temperature dips with the Sun. "I was on a little mountain top... Even by 5 p.m. it had gotten down to 15 degrees C. It gets down to zero in the night. People are managing to survive, but it is only so long the weak can survive."

Mr. Wurst said there were many people and supplies on the ground. But the amount needed was mind-boggling. "It's not happening as quickly as people would like, and maybe, they can't get it across to all of the people, the relief effort is staggering." But there was still "some frustration" that people hadn't donated as much as they did in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami.

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