October 11, 2005
Patty McGarvey, former C&MA missionary to the Philippines, gives the following report regarding the area of Pakistan where she lived as a missionary kid:
My heart is in Pakistan these days. The epicenter of the catastrophic earthquake that hit northern Pakistan Saturday, October 8, occurred in the area where I grew up. My parents were missionaries with TEAM. I know the towns that have been demolished by the earthquake. Muzaffarabad, a city of 200,000 people, has been destroyed. Bodies can be seen everywhere—on roads, streets, and under the debris of collapsed buildings. Food and medicine is scarce, and people are fighting over limited supplies.
People are sleeping outside or in their vehicles. There are no tents. Thousands of people are still alive under the debris, but there is no way to reach them.
The TEAM hospital where my mother was the main doctor for years is the center of relief help. Hundreds of persons are flooding out the city with injuries and coming to the hospital. Doctors from other parts of the country have come to help, and a few nurses have flown in from Europe. Tents have been set up to accommodate the influx of patients, and free care is being given to all who come. Government hospitals near the epicenter have collapsed; other hospitals in nearby areas also have been damaged.
Muzaffarabad is only one of numerous towns that have been almost completely destroyed. The mountains and valleys of this Himalayan region are filled with hamlets and villages that have been devastated by this earthquake. Please pray.