Recent news from India/Pakistan border

Following is a story I wrote exclusively for the Christian Chronicle's Web site, www.christianchronicle.org. You'll find additional stories about relief efforts for the recent hurricanes on the site. -- Erik

Missionary taking aid to Pakistan sees 'chaos everywhere'

Minister says 4 million need supplies, medical help in Kashmir region as death toll reaches 54,000

By Erik Tryggestad
The Christian Chronicle

Few Indian evangelists would have traveled into Kashmir in years past. But on Oct. 11 Paul Renganathan and a team of relief workers drove through it and up to the border of Pakistan, a nation that once stood on the brink of war with India over the disputed region.

Renganathan, a minister based in the southern Indian city of Chennai, accompanied Tariq Abdulla Malik, Abdul Rashid, Manzoor Ahamad and Ali Mohamad into towns destroyed by the Oct. 8 earthquake to distribute a truckload of supplies. Several ministries in the United States also are arranging for relief shipments.

The 7.6-magnitude earthquake’s epicenter was close to Muzaffarabad in the Pakistan-controlled region of Kashmir but caused devastation for hundreds of miles throughout the Himalayan region of Pakistan and India. The quake killed an estimated 54,000 people, officials said Sunday.

“What I have seen is chaos everywhere — injured, hungry, sick, homeless people,” Renganathan said. “Exposure to cold weather killed many children. Many (who were) seriously injured still are waiting for medical attention.”

The team visited towns and villages in the Indian-controlled regions of Kashmir, including Uri, Jabala, Salamabad, Nowgam and Tangdhar. Almost every home in each location was destroyed, as well as schools and hospitals. Most of the survivors were sitting along the roads, in the rain and snow, waiting for relief. Many were weeping, said Renganathan, who estimated that as many as 4 million people in the region need assistance.

Healing Hands International, based in Nashville, Tenn., was waiting for a report from its assessment team, said Roberto Santiago, the ministry’s international development coordinator.

John Kachelman, minister for the Judsonia, Ark., church, also is assessing needs and planning to send shipments of relief supplies from church members to the affected region using his contacts at the U.S. State Department.

In the Philippines, church member Chito Cusi said that MARCH for Christ, plans to send a team to the affected area. The medical ministry has sent several teams to areas affected by the Dec. 26 tsunami

“We are ready. Our experience in Sri Lanka and Indonesia … give us a big advantage,” Cusi said.

“We can be among the first to hit ground zero with the love of Christ.”

The region’s mountainous terrain and bad weather have slowed aid thus far, according to news agencies, but meeting the emotional needs of the victims will take even longer. Indian church members outside the affected zone said that the quake nonetheless had shaken their sense of security, especially after the Dec. 26 tsunami.

G. David Illankumaran, minister for the Maduma Nagar church in southeastern India, said that it seems that “north India and south India are under attack by nature, What will happen in next minute, we do not know.”

But the earthquake also has united the people of Kashmir after years of hostility, Renganathan said.

“India and Pakistan were preparing for war some time ago,” Renganathan said. “Now God has given something else for these people to do for a good while.

“And (that’s what) they are doing now — helping each other.”