Cuba plays key role in Pakistan quake aid

The disaster from the powerful earthquake that on Oct. 8 devastated the northeastern part of Pakistan in the Himalayan foothills is still unfolding. The quake immediately killed an estimated 73,000 people and left 3.5 million homeless. Now, as temperatures plummet, hundreds of thousands remain at risk of extreme suffering and death.

While a variety of groups have rushed tents, food and medical care to the survivors, it hasn't been enough.

Many international aid agencies dependent on the rich imperialist countries for most of their funds have been operating in the area, from the Red Cross/Red Crescent to Oxfam, the UN children's fund (UNICEF), the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and  Médicins Sans Frontiers/Doctors Without Borders. Their own personnel complain that they haven't enough resources to cope with this disaster.

Socialist Cuba, which by contrast is a relatively poor country after having been blockaded for almost half a century by the U.S., has sent over 1,000 doctors and nurses from its Henry Reeve International Medical Contingent. They make up the largest medical contingent working in the area.

The left-wing Pakistan Trade Union Defense Committee has tried to bring in relief supplies purchased in nearby India, but has been blocked by the Musharraf government. A variety of Islamic groups are also helping the people.

The U.S. Army, which is fighting a merciless war in neighboring Afghanistan and has enormous military resources in the area, has supplied helicopters to fly in tents and take out some of the injured. These flights, it should be noted, have increased in an obvious response to the political impact of Cuba's solidarity.

According to the UN, about 800,000 of the homeless have only their blankets to keep off the falling snow. Just 10 percent of the 400,000 tents delivered so far are winterized. Oxfam and the UNHCR are trying to buy 20,000 small stoves to heat the tents that have been winterized.

As of Dec. 2,  according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), just $160 million, or 29 percent, of the $550 million needed for the first six months of earthquake relief had been received, although $240 million had been promised for delivery by that date.

The British, Irish and Australian press report scattered deaths, particularly among the most vulnerable populations in isolated villages not reached by relief teams. As conditions get worse, many more thousands are expected to die, not just from the cold but from pneumonia and bronchitis due to lack of shelter. Some areas affected by the earthquake normally get 20 feet of snow by midwinter. Some survivors are digging graves before the ground freezes.

The Cuban contingent has 17 field hospitals in action and plans to set up another 13. Cuba's deputy minister of foreign affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, is responsible for coordinating Cuban efforts in Pakistan. He says the contingent has 789 doctors, about half of them specialists with experience in natural disasters, 315 paramedics, all university graduates or technicians, and 128 backup staff.  This includes 80 engineers who set up the high technology that the field hospitals use--ultrasound, electrocardiograms, x-rays and clinical laboratories.

All the Cuban medical personnel live under the same conditions as their patients.

UNICEF's director of operations in Pakistan, Indiana Gonzalez Mairena, told the Cuban newspaper Vanguardia, "I recognize this as valuable humanitarian aid which we would not expect from other countries possessing much more resources than Cuba. It's just a matter of will."

Oliver Behn, coordinator of Médicins Sans Frontiers in the Hattian Bala region, comments: "When we arrived here with MSF there were great needs in the Hattian population which we could only partially satisfy. A few days later the Cuban medical team of doctors and nurses arrived. They have made a significant contribution to cover the needs of the population. I think they are doing a very good  job."

U.S. and British military

According to the English newspaper The Guardian of Dec. 4, "large boxes of Stars and Stripes-branded toys and scarves [are] regularly delivered by U.S. helicopters with aid packages."  A large number of U.S. helicopters are taking part in the fighting in Afghanistan, a few hours' flight time away. Given that many roads and bridges were destroyed by the earthquake, along with houses, schools and clinics, helicopters are often the only mode of transportation in this rugged and devastated area. Britain also has commando teams in Pakistan providing engineering help to the Pakistani army.

After the number of Cuban doctors grew from 300 to 789,  the U.S.  freed up some of the resources it has been using to occupy and control Afghanistan.

The presence of foreign troops has raised the hackles of some of the Islamic groups in Pakistan, in particular the six major Islamic parties in a coalition called Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), who see the troop presence as an extension of their activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Some of the ethnic groups in this part of Pakistan also live in Afghanistan.

Washington is urging the Pakistani army to take control of all the relief efforts and undercut the Islamic groups. While it hasn't moved against the Islamic groups, the Pakistan army did stop the trade unions' Fifth Revolutionary Solidarity Caravan at the border, after it had picked up supplies in India, and seized all its goods.