[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Cuba provides 300 doctors to Pakistan
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- Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2005 20:26:30 +0100
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http://www.workers.org/2005/world/pakistan-1110/
As U.S. aid falters
Cuba provides 300 doctors to Pakistan
By G. Dunkel
Published Nov 6, 2005 8:48 PM
A massive disaster is building in the foothills of the Himalayas, mainly in
northern Pakistan, Kashmir and, to a lesser degree, in neighboring India. On
Oct. 8, a severe earthquake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, hit the area.
Tens of thousands of people died in the building collapses caused by the quake.
The area is so remote and the destruction of roads and bridges due to rock
slides so complete that the full number of deaths from the quake is not known,
but on Nov. 1 the Pakistani government revised its official figure sharply
upward to over 73,000. Those severely injured numbered perhaps twice or three
times the number of people killed.
Pakistani officials had not reached at least 30 percent of the area affected by
the earthquake as late as Oct. 30. Even roads arduously opened by the army have
frequently been closed by aftershocks.
Many of the injuries have become gangrenous because the wounds couldn't be pro
perly cleaned. Even many survivors whose wounds were properly treated have
broken bones not yet properly set. As survivors reach field hospitals, the
medical staffs have performed thousands of amputations to keep gangrene from
killing the patients.
Two to four million people are homeless, with no shelter. The earthquake has
destroyed farmers' granaries. In an area already grindingly poor, at least 1
million additional people lost their jobs, according to the International Labor
Organi zation. The ILO also said that each person with a job in this part of
Pakistan supported two people without one.
Winter begins in mid-November, with heavier snows than usual predicted. The
snow line is already creeping down the mountains surrounding the valleys where
people live. Roads that are now hard to travel are going to become impassible
so people without shelter, food or fuel for warmth face death by freezing.
Who is responding to the crisis?
The response to this developing crisis has varied.
The day after the earthquake struck, the National Trade Union Federation of
Pakistan, representing 106 unions, and the Pakistan Trade Union Defense
Campaign, two leading labor confederations in Pakistan, met and resolved to get
all their members to contribute one day's salary to ongoing relief efforts.
Relief convoys were organ ized that took vitally needed supplies into
devastated areas and set up relief camps.
Islamic groups, opposed to the government, also sprang into action and provided
their own relief in separate convoys and camps.
The Pakistani government, unprepared and overwhelmed by the magnitude of the
crisis, put out a cry for help. Its closest neighbor, India-which has fought
four wars with Pakistan over some of the area struck by the quake-provided
medical supplies, bedding, food and transportation. India has also agreed to
open five border crossings.
From outside the stricken countries, some of the best help came from socialist
Cuba, which has already sent 300 doctors, including 15 surgical teams, to
Pakistan. Cuba also has medical teams in Guatemala aiding recovery after a
recent hurricane there. On the Oct. 27 "Round Table," a regularly televised
discussion program in Cuba, President Fidel Castro challenged the United States
and the European Union to adopt a similar position based on solidarity with the
survivores.
China also immediately sent aid to Paki stan. By Oct. 29, when China handed
over 150,000 blankets and 3,380 tents, its aid amounted to $20.5 million.
According to the Daily Times, an English -language Pakistani newspaper, over
900 U.S. personnel-from FEMA, medi cal teams and engineers-are helping with the
relief effort. Twenty-nine U.S. helicopters are currently operating to support
relief efforts. Washington has pled ged $156 million, but only $50 million of
that is for humanitarian relief.
The international Oxfam organization, in an Oct. 28 press release, said that
the U.S. had delivered only $14.5 million, or 6.9 percent of its "fair share of
the UN-requested donations." Oxfam calculates "fair share" based on the size of
the donating countries' economy. The U.S. contribution at that point was less
than China's, which has a much smaller economy.
UN agencies-the World Health Org anization, UNESCO, the Food and Agri culture
Organization-are supplying most of the aid and assistance to Pakistan. The
donations promised them by the wealthy imperialist countries have not yet
started to flow.
The Communist Workers and Peasants Party of Pakistan, in an Oct. 28 appeal for
international solidarity, wrote: "Progres sive people in Pakistan are doing the
best that they can but the enormity of the problem is overwhelming. Real
meaningful assistance can only be provided through internationally coordinated
relief efforts."
The party called on people in the wealthy countries to "put pressure on their
governments not only to increase their pledges but more importantly to deliver
these relief funds to the UN before Nov. 15, which is the date that closes the
window of opportunity for millions of people."
The UN helicopters will be grounded soon because the airlift is running out of
money. "It is now or never," Jan Vande moortele, the UN's earthquake relief
coordinator, said.
"We will not have a second chance. Tomorrow will be too late for thousands and
thousands of victims," he added, "especially babies and small children
vulnerable to pneumonia, diarrhea and malnutrition."
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