[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 154 (Friday, November 18, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13308-S13309]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  PAKISTAN'S RECOVERY FROM EARTHQUAKES

  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, it has been nearly 6 weeks since 
Pakistan was devastated by one of the most powerful and deadly 
earthquakes in modern times. More than 140,000 people were killed or 
injured in the disaster. The earthquake left 3 million people homeless; 
hundreds of thousands of children were left without schools. More than 
a million jobs were wiped out.
  I have come to the floor this afternoon to remind my colleagues that 
as we are prepared to leave town to spend the holidays with our 
families, to enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with turkey and all 
the trimmings, as we sit around our dining tables and warm houses with 
family and friends close by, and we give thanks for all our blessings, 
let's also pause and remember those halfway around the world who will 
not even have enough to eat that day, will not have a warm house, and 
who are facing a winter ahead of cold and deprivation. These are the 
people of Pakistan, one of our most important strategic allies in Asia, 
especially in the war against terrorism.
  There are many difficult months and years ahead for the Pakistani 
people and the immediate danger is that the winter snows will now soon 
make relief efforts in Kashmir difficult and in some places all but 
impossible, even by helicopter. Americans can be very proud of the role 
our Armed Forces have played in relief operations in the earthquake 
zone. Immediately after the disaster struck, the United States offered 
Pakistan $156 million in aid. We deployed 950 soldiers as well as 24 
helicopters. As I speak, a U.S. Army mobile surgical hospital is 
operating in Muzzafarabad, providing medical care to thousands of quake 
victims.
  To give our colleagues and viewers watching on C-SPAN a better idea 
of the devastation in Pakistan, I share several photographs taken by a 
former member of my staff, Mr. Sam Afridi, who now works for the 
International Labor Organization in Geneva. Earlier this month he 
visited some of the most hard-hit areas, including Muzzafarabad, and 
Balakot. These pictures speak for themselves.
  Here is Balakot police station with hardly a stone standing on top of 
another stone.
  Here is another--devastation in the local neighborhood. As you can 
see, the resilience of the people--they are already setting up their 
fruit and vegetable stands to help out one another.
  This is another indication of the devastation. Here you can see the 
U.S. Army Chinooks flying overhead in this picture.
  Here is a picture of the Hizwan public high school. The earthquake 
killed 50 students, including the principal's son. You see all the 
clothes and the backpacks still left there.
  Here is a project Mr. Afridi was involved in, the International Labor 
Organization Emergency Employment. They are hiring people to clean up 
the debris and move the debris out of the roads. They are working to 
clean up the devastation.
  Here is a young child caught in the rubble in a full body cast. We 
hope he is going to be all right, but the child may be disabled for the 
rest of his life.
  Here is a young boy, showing the crutches and the fact that, while we 
hope he can walk again, we don't know if he will ever walk again.
  These are some of the images from a country that has been a great 
friend of ours and a great ally of ours for a long time. Even back 
during all of the years of the Cold War, Pakistan we could always reply 
on--always. They have fought beside us, side by side, in every war we 
have had, from the Korean war on.
  We have done some things, as I mentioned, but we must do more. The 
Washington Post editorial pointed out this morning that, after the 
Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 200,000 people, the United States sent 
nearly $1 billion in government aid, 16,000 soldiers, 57 helicopters, 
42 aircraft, and 25 ships--$1 billion. Thus far we have offered 
Pakistan $156 million.
  We sent 16,000 soldiers after the tsunami. In Pakistan we deployed 
950. After the tsunami, 57 helicopters, Pakistan 24.
  While I am sure that aid is welcomed, what I am trying to point out 
is the devastation here was every bit as devastating; there were 
140,000 Pakistanis killed in the earthquake.
  Half that many are now homeless and facing a desperate winter without 
even as much as a tent.
  The assistance we have offered Pakistan--one of our best friends and 
long-time allies, a crucial ally in our war on terror has been way too 
modest.
  I ask unanimous consent to have the editorial from this morning's 
Washington Post printed in the Record.
       There being no objection, the material was ordered to be 
     printed in the Record, as follows:

               [From the Washington Post, Nov. 18, 2005]

                           Winter in Kashmir

       It takes advanced seismographs to anticipate earthquakes 
     and computerized weather models to predict hurricanes. It 
     doesn't take sophisticated technology to predict that leaving 
     thousands without shelter in the freezing Himalayas will be 
     disastrous. Unfortunately, however, predictability is not a 
     predictor of action. With perhaps two weeks to go before 
     snows close down the relief efforts that followed the Kashmir 
     earthquake, it's not clear that enough has been done to avert 
     a horrific secondary disaster.
       Last month's earthquake caused an initial death toll of at 
     least 74,000 and left perhaps 3 million people homeless. But 
     so far only about 340,000 tents have been distributed. 
     Doctors are trying to immunize 1.2 million children put at 
     risk by bad shelter, diet and sanitation. But the 
     immunization drive has only half the $8 million that it 
     needs. Relief teams are trying to position stocks of food in 
     remote villages before the snows come. But the food lift got 
     underway belatedly, although donors led by the United States 
     have provided helicopters.
       As The Post's John Lancaster described it Sunday, the 
     contrast with the Indian Ocean tsunami is distressing. After 
     the tsunami, the United States sent nearly $1 billion in 
     government aid, 16,000 soldiers, 57 helicopters, 42 other 
     aircraft and 25 ships. After the Kashmir quake, the United 
     States has offered Pakistan $156 million in aid, including 
     military equipment; deployed 950 soldiers; and sent 24 
     helicopters. Aid that's available for immediate relief needs 
     has been especially slow in coming. The United Nations has 
     appealed for $550 million in emergency aid, but donors have 
     pledged only $159 million.
       The tsunami triggered a tsunami of generosity because it 
     hit during the holiday season and because Western tourists 
     were affected. But the logistics of getting relief into the 
     Himalayas are more daunting; the weather is more punishing. 
     While no deaths were linked to disease and hunger following 
     the tsunami, the risk of an after-disaster in Kashmir is 
     real. Add in Pakistan's two-headed role as an ally in the war 
     on terrorism and an incubator of terrorists, and the case for 
     scoring a combined humanitarian-foreign policy success by 
     delivering more relief faster should be obvious. President 
     Bush has sent Karen Hughes, his chief of public diplomacy, to 
     Pakistan. But sending another fleet of helicopters would be 
     even more helpful.

  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, as the editorial points out, we have a 
big stake in delivering much more generous relief to Pakistan. Largely 
because of the war in Iraq, America's standing in the Muslim world has 
fallen dramatically in recent years.
  According to a recent Pew Center poll, only 22 percent of Pakistanis 
expressed a favorable view of the American people.
  So clearly the aftermath of the earthquake is a chance for us to put 
our best foot forward, demonstrating our compassion, generosity, our 
friendship for the Pakistani people.
  By reaching out to them in their hour of need, we can show the people 
of Pakistan that we see their country as more than a base for 
operations against terrorists.

[[Page S13309]]

  To that end, I urge President Bush, Secretary of State Rice, and the 
Government to take a more assertive leadership role in rallying the 
international community to assist Pakistan. We can begin tomorrow at 
the International Donors' Conference in Islamabad. To date, the 
international community has only provided a quarter of the emergency 
relief that the United Nations requested for earthquake assistance in 
Pakistan.
  Let me repeat that. The United Nations has appealed for $550 million 
in assistance for Pakistan, but donor nations have pledged only one-
fourth of that amount.
  In contrast, 1 month after the Indian Ocean tsunami, the U.N.'s 
emergency appeal was 99 percent filled. Now it is only a quarter 
filled.
  Some good things are happening. For example, as I pointed out, the 
International Labor Organization has set up an emergency cash-for-work 
program in the earthquake region. People are being put to work making 
infrastructure repairs, removing debris, improving sanitation.
  This is a picture of the International Labor Organization and their 
emergency employment and what they are doing.
  The aim of this program is to inject cash back into the local 
economy, while helping people get back to work to support themselves.
  According to my former staff member, Mr. Afribi, one of the 
participants in this program said to him, ``For every rupee we get for 
this work, it feels like 10 because we have earned it.''
  So clearly these are people of pride and dignity and they are willing 
to work hard. They are looking for a handup, not a handout. It behooves 
us to be more generous and forthcoming than we have been to date. We 
need to continue to provide immediate emergency humanitarian relief. 
But we also need to tend to the longer term needs of the survivors.
  Many children, as I have shown, have had amputations. They need to be 
cared for. Safeguards need to be put in place to ensure that their 
disabilities do not get in the way of their education. Past experience 
tells us that such children are vulnerable to being exploited in the 
workplace. In closing, we have an important mission here--to come to 
the aid of the Pakistani people in their moment of maximum need.
  I have many good friends in the Pakistani-American communities. I 
have many good friends in Pakistan. I was privileged to visit there 
this September, the third time I have been to Pakistan. I traveled 
quite extensively in the country. The Pakistani people are wonderful. 
They are highly educated and skilled. The Pakistanis in America, who 
have come to make a better life for themselves, are doctors, surgeons, 
engineers, and so on. Many of them have called me, eager to get 
involved in the relief in Pakistan.
  We ought to be looking for ways for the USAID to provide a way for 
these people to go to Pakistan, under the American flag, for a period 
of weeks or months so they can put their talents to use in assisting 
the earthquake victims.
  This would send a powerful message of friendship and good will of the 
American people to the Pakistani people.
  I urge my colleagues to remember the pictures I have shown and to 
remember, this Thanksgiving week coming up, the millions of poor people 
in Pakistan whose lives were shattered in only a few minutes, one of 
the most devastating earthquakes to ever hit our planet. They are 
struggling to put their lives back together. We need to do more--again, 
both in terms of short-term relief and long-term reconstruction. Time 
and again, Pakistan has been there for us. Time and time again, from 
the beginning of the Cold War, when they allowed our U-2 flights to fly 
from Peshawar over the Soviet Union, all through the Cold War, the 
Korean war, the Vietnam war, Haiti, everywhere we have been, the 
Pakistanis have been by our side. Now it is our turn to be there for 
the people of Pakistan in their hour of need. During this Thanksgiving 
week, let us resolve to do better than we have done in the past.
  I urge the President and the Secretary of State at the Donors' 
Conference tomorrow in Islamabad to step forward to lead the 
international community to do better than they have done in the past.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. COLEMAN). The Senator from West Virginia 
is recognized.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the Chair.

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