PAKISTAN: AN ANECDOTE

"this is an pre-edited version of my father's account during his recent humanitarian mission in Pakistan. The edited version can be found in The Beat magazine 2006"


Cogitating at the picture of Zainab, 10 years old in her carmine dress I can’t help but to ponder about the future that lays ahead for my dear Shaza, equally 10, that I left behind. To my conscience, again I was deep in my own wandering mind thinking, “Is this Newsline magazine trying to stop me from leaving?”


I am now on board a plane back home to Malaysia. The food is “a bit low in terms of quality compared to what we have in MAS. Then again it is by far a luxury compared to they have in Jaglari Village, Bagh, Pakistan. The “thing” that God imposed upon them; be it a test or be it a wrath; is far worse than any earthly words could possibly describe. Sitting in my comfy seat reading a Newsline magazine they provided in this Pakistan International Airline (PIA) craft, I gave this tormented Pakistani soil one last gaze…

* * *

Date : 2nd December 2005
Time : 1400
Location : MERCY Headquaters, Ampang

“The temperature would range between -5°C to 3°C,” warned Dr. Faizal, the chief for this South Asian mission. It is the day before we left for Pakistan, briefing day in Malaysian Medical Relief Society (MERCY) headquaters in Ampang Point, Kuala Lumpur. It is also the day to get to know everyone in the team. There are all 6 of us in the team, Dr. Azlina (Orthopedic Surgeon, Hospital University Malaya), Dr. Shahila (O&G specialist, Taiping Hospital), Dr. Amir (surgeon, HUKM), Dr Natasha (General Practitioner, KL),Dr Chan (MO, Sabah), SN Norzaini (HUKM), Mr Gunalan (a sales manager from Petronas as our logistician) and lastly me, Halim Lim Abdullah (an MA from HTAA, Kuantan).

We were given a few reminders today. Security escort is a must when going anywhere. Curfew hours, 6 pm to 7 am. In case of any successive quakes, NATO or UN camp are the places to go.

Respecting culture is a must; it is preferable for women personnel to deal with women patients. They also advised the ladies to put on hijab which really makes all sense to me. Not because of the ‘conservative’ nature of the country, but just for the sole reason and significance behind the headscarf itself.


Date : 3rd December 2005

The next day at 7 am, we gathered at KLIA. The flight was at 9 am and we were transiting in Changi Airport, Singapore. Despite this being my fourth mission with MERCY, the excitement and anxiety seems to be everlasting. Well I supposed that is good as they say, “Anxiety keeps you alert.”

Later on that day, after a seemingly short 6 hours flight, we finally arrived in Karachi International Airport at 3 pm local time. At around 715 pm, we left Karachi for Islamabad, arriving at 930 pm. In Islamabad we were greeted by the first local flavour in our trip, Mr Tariq, an interpreter employed by MERCY. Mr Tariq took us to Royal Inn Hotel, where we rest to end our first day of adventure.


Date : 4th December 2005
Time : 1400
Location : Islamabad Airport

The heat is finally on. Right in front of me is a UN helicopter, loaded with technical apparatus ready to be lifted along with the anxious passengers. Destination : Bagh, Azad-Kashmir, Pakistan. An area that was literally flattened by the 8th October 2005’s catastrophe.

* * *

Occurring at 8:50:40 am, the earthquake with a grand magnitude of 7.6 on Richter scale marked the deadliest chapter in Pakistan’s 58 years history. It shook the ground of the epicentre in the Kashmir Mountains to as far as the populous Metropolis of Dhaka for 4 minutes. Spanning a total area of 28,000 sq km, millions felt it as it growled across the South Asian region.

The result was devastating. Massive human and material damage to the most picturesque and breathtaking regions of the country. Mansehra, Balakot, Muzzafarabad, Bagh, Batagram – all destroyed, literally. As of 8th November 2005, the Pakistani government official death tool was 87,350 and millions were left homeless in that split second of misery.

* * *

Nervous, anxious, jittery – it was like there was a butterfly in my stomach, laying eggs and gave rise to a whole bunch of other butterflies. My heart beat was through the roof. Enthusiasm and fretfulness were mingling to a rather equal proportion.

The one hour helicopter ride was an astonishing one, but not in a good way. From a bird’s-eye view, I was able to capture the holistic picture of the degree of damage caused by the calamity. Tumbling buildings, crushed land, scattering trees, dis-attached road. No wonder the aid service was so slow, the areas were practically impenetrable. (Nevertheless in such a predicament that is not an excuse, preparations really should and could have been much better.)


Time : 1500

Bagh is situated about 135km from the epicentre. We were initially told that Bagh was not so badly affected compared to other affected cities; for instance Muzaffarabad, Balakot and Garhi. Even so underestimate we did not and upon arrival, indeed we were right in not doing so. Bagh had only the least to offer the survivors. Only piles of debris and shaky structures. The closer we get, the uglier it is. There was no street with an intact house, no market, not even one functioning shop, no functioning hospital. No nothing. It was beyond abysmal.

Straight away after arriving in Bagh we were taken to ‘check-in’ at the ‘hotel’ we were going to be staying for the next couple of weeks or so, MERCY base camp.

Time : 2100

Our first task in Bagh – 2 caesarian sections, done in District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) which was actually a large tent replacement for the actual DHQ that was reduced to rubble during the earthquake. Despite the shortcomings in fancy equipments Dr Shahila did an excellent job delivering the babies.

Later that night we went to sleep in our respective tents (2 tents, 1 for male another for female), at 3°C and no heating, not so much of a convenient stay. But no complaints, no success comes without sacrifice.


Date : 5th December 2005

As instructed during the briefing in MERCY HQ earlier on, we arranged ourselves into groups of two, one group to be based in DHQ managing O&G cases; another in PIMA relief camp dealing with mainly orthopedic cases. The other group was responsible for mobile clinics, traveling from one village to another giving out medications and giving out advices concerning healthcare. The idea was to alternate between these 3 tasks among ourselves.


Date : 6th December 2005
Time : 900

Today was my first mobile clinic session. Dr Natasha and I traveled to Jaglari Village, about 1 hour van ride away from our base camp. Travelling along with us were a few Pakistani army men as well as two other doctors from HELP, UK; Dr. Philip and Dr. Nazim. They were on a mission of doing a scabies survey. Actually all of us looked forward to going for this mobile clinic trip, particularly because these villages were known to have an amazingly amazing view. And indeed, Subhanallah, Jaglari Village was breathtaking.

Upon arrival n Jaglari Village at around 10 am, the villagers have already gathered in the appointed meeting spot which was merely an open area. Dr Natasha and I set up our ‘clinic’ (a ‘tikar’ with an array of medicines) whilst the soldiers gave the villagers a short briefing. Then the villagers lined up for their medications, quite in orderly fashion I must concur. No pushing; the gentlemen were gentlemen enough to let the elderly, women and their children to go first. Mainly the villagers came to us with problems such as URTI, muscle ache and some with post-trauma injury. Everything went on smoothly and a few hours later, we were all done. The villagers then served us with some local food, showing their sense of gesture. Rice with mutton and artichoke, not quite suiting our Malaysian taste buds, but again no complaints. Alhamdulillah.

Later that day we visited the remains of a school in Jaglari. On the day of the disaster there were children in the school building. As the school went down plummeting to the ground, the kids got trapped. By the will of Allah, the rescue aide’s (read = the villagers) quick action managed to minimise the casualty that could have otherwise been disastrous to the school.

At around 2 pm, we dishearteningly left the ever so warm villagers of Jaglari for base camp. We have to leave at 200 i.e. before dark in case of any unexpected emergencies. Language might have been a barrier, but somehow within that short period of time some sort of bonding prevailed.


Date : 7th December 2005

Wednesday. It was my turn to attend to our ortho clinic in the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA)’s field OT. It was about 3 minutes walking distance from our base camp. The ortho clinic was a joint effort by MERCY and PIMA, they provide the tents we provide the doctors. PIMA also operate an Outpatient Department in the camp. Apart from volunteers such as Dr. Azlina (an orthopedic surgeon) and me, MERCY also employed a few full time workers such as Dr. Bashir, a doctor from Afghanistan and Haleem, a local OT technician.

We dealt with orthopedic cases, most commonly fractures and dislocations. Hence we did a lot of manual reduction, dressing, toilet and suturing as well as 2 skin grafting cases. We had about 32 patients that day.

* * *

Shaza came to us for a scheduled check up of her amputation wounds. She was 10 years old, obviously frightened. Accompanied just by her elder brother made me wonder, what could have possibly happen to her family. I did not dare ask her, she was looking devastated enough and surely did not need me asking her that. But as time progress Dr. Bashir and I managed to build up some rapport with her, and finally some smile on her face. She was something special.

As a matter of fact, there were loads of children such as Shaza in PIMA ward. Amputation limb was a common view. Some ‘Shazas’ did adapted and looked a bit more lively, but for some the tremor was so great that it shook the spirit out of them. Silence was a cruel sound to be heard in the ward.

* * *

Date : 8th December 2005

Today is O&G day for me. Based in DHQ with Dr. Shahila we saw 48 patients today. Generally for ultrasound and regular check-ups. Apart from that we also had to do 1 caesarian section, 3 normal deliveries and 1 dilatation and curettage.



Date : 9th December 2006 to 14th December 2006

Day by day running offered a distinctively different experience. In dealing with people, never underestimate how different some people could be. And never underestimate the lesson that one could teach another, be it a 92 years old man or a tiny 8 months old toddler. Even a 2 minutes old newborn gave me an intensely touching experience when her mother wept in tears of joy, for a new family member that was sent to replace the taken one.

One thing got me thinking – how in the world did these people survive in tents for such a long time? Even after a couple of weeks of tent-sleeping, the cold weather was killing my bones. And it is going to get worse. One of Mr Gunalan’s (our logistician) mission was to find a suitable house to be made our next base camp (a task both easy and hard – easy because so few houses were spared by the quake, hence not so hard to choose; hard because the houses left were mostly waiting for its time). He did find one eventually, a creaky, full of chink house but still ‘reliable’ (as said by a NATO engineer who was kind enough to check it out for us). Which again got me thinking – how about the Bagh people themselves? Currently they are living in family tents courtesy of Iranian Red Cross.


Date : 15th December 2005 & 16th December 2005

It was an enigma really, to leave or not to leave. A conundrum that was rather cruelly rhetorical. Anyhow we had to leave Bagh for Islamabad today. After a quick photo session with all the base camp crew, we left in a UN chopper. After spending the day in Islamabad, we left Islamabad for Karachi the next day.

* * *

Now here I am sitting in my comfy seat in PIA aircraft, reading the Newsline magazine given earlier. It might have been a very short couple of weeks, but having the opportunity to engage in such experience gave me not only self-satisfaction. It gave me a real sense of thankfulness towards the Al-mighty. For the time that I shared with Bagh was a period of helping; helping others as well as helping myself in my self-development in becoming a better Muslim. So true were the words of Abu Dzar Al-Ghifari, “This worldly life can be broken into 3 seconds – 1 that you have gone through, 1 that you are facing right now, 1 that you will be facing. And indeed, you only have 1 second in life, for death comes from second to second.”

I saw to it personally that his words were proven in Bagh. A second of disaster brought about a spectrum of hardship.