[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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