Pakistan Honors World Vision relief efforts with Award

President General Pervez Musharraf presented the Sitara-i-Eisaar award in a ceremony at the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington. Mark Jorritsma, a vice president of international programs for World Vision, accepted on the organization’s behalf. The award is meant to recognize “sacrifice and dedicated service to humanity.”

“I wish to express first-hand the gratitude of the people and the government,” Musharraf told representatives of the organizations being honored, which included other nongovernmental groups and the U.S. Agency for International Development. “With your assistance we were able to overcome the needs of the immediate aftermath. We have a long way to travel, still.”

An estimated 2.2 million children were affected, including more than 10,000 who lost at least one parent. World Vision, a Christian relief and development organization, responded immediately to the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that struck Pakistan the morning of October 8, 2005. The quake killed more than 73,000 people and injured thousands more. The destruction of homes, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure in some areas of the North West Frontier Province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir was absolute. Local populations faced a bitter Himalayan winter with little shelter or clothing left to protect them.

Emergency specialists with World Vision reached the quake zone within 48 hours, and the agency quickly sent a medical team and airlifted vital supplies such as food, blankets and tents, eventually reaching more than 450 villages. Since the earthquake, about 142,932 people -- more than 31,000 households -– have benefited from World Vision relief supplies and food.

The disaster dealt its greatest blow to children, killing more than 19,000 as they sat in their classrooms or helped their mothers with the daily chores at home. An estimated 2.2 million children were affected, including more than 10,000 who lost at least one parent.

A lot of people are still alive today because of the relief effort, but much remains to be done “Progress has been made and we can honestly say that children are better off, but it is not over,” John Schenk, a spokesman for World Vision relief operations, said this week while visiting the organization’s ongoing projects in Pakistan. “A lot of people are still alive today because of the relief effort, but much remains to be done.”

World Vision’s longer-term recovery programs include food-for-work projects to help residents rehabilitate the infrastructure. These programs provide food packages to support some 180,000 people who are especially vulnerable, such as families who lost their income sources, the elderly and female-headed households, while they rebuild their homes and restore their livelihoods.

The current phase of World Vision’s response also focuses on rebuilding schools, protecting children, and re-starting agricultural production and animal husbandry. Where possible, World Vision works with and strives to build the capacity of local partners.