toledoblade.com --

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistanis are an unpredictable lot. Decades of misrule by successive civilian and military governments have turned them into a nation of cynics. The massive earthquake three weeks ago, however, transformed this country of 150 million in ways that is not only surprising but also reassuring and endearing.

While the international community was still in the initial stages of disbelief and confusion, most Pakistanis dropped everything and started organizing rescue and relief missions to the affected areas.

Within hours of the initial jolt, and while the aftershocks were still shaking the earth every few minutes, makeshift convoys of relief supplies started making their way to the northern mountains in Hazara and Kashmir carrying supplies of cash, flour, blankets, and warm clothes. Where the roads had washed out they carried the precious cargo across the gapping gorges to reach the other side.

The volunteers came from the length and breadth of the country and from all walks of life: professionals, merchants, peasants, students. Such a show of solidarity had not been seen in the history of this country.

I called Pakistanis an unpredictable and cynical lot for a reason. The Pakistani society is bedeviled by ongoing strife that has polarized the country along political, sectarian, and economic lines and has, directly or indirectly, touched almost everyone in the country.

But just as the earthquake was creating deep fissures in the mountainous landscape, the fissures within the society started disappearing. They all forged ahead with only one thing in mind; to save the injured and feed the hungry.

There are many untold stories of how the earthquake victims themselves set aside their own personal grief and helped others in need. An army officer, having lost his own family, continued to rescue others. He did not have time to mourn, he said. An eye surgeon lost his wife and child but continued to extend his professional help to those in need. The nobility of human spirit was alive and well even amidst ruins and debris.

Pakistani expatriates in Europe and North America also responded with a sense of duty. Hundreds of them rushed to Pakistan with money and materials. Teams of Pakistani physicians came from different parts of the world to treat the injured. The Association of Pakistani physicians of North America (APPNA) sent teams of specialists to work in MASH units set up by Pakistan and the U.S. Army, and also in many civilian hospitals in the country.

Individuals and small groups did make a difference to a small number of victims that they were able to reach soon after the disaster. But such efforts are no match for the massive relief efforts carried out by the Pakistani government and international relief agencies.

The Pakistani army, with the help of the U.N., NATO, and other international organizations, has done a commendable job, but their efforts are being curtailed for lack of money. Unfortunately the international community has been extremely sluggish in responding to the crisis.

The U.N. had appealed for $500 million to feed and shelter the homeless. Two weeks into the disaster only 20 percent of that amount had been donated. To underline the desperate need for immediate help, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan himself attended an emergency meeting of the donor countries in Geneva last week. Though total pledges now stand at $500 million, the money has yet to flow into the empty coffers of the emergency relief fund.

The Himalayan earthquake has, with 65,000 dead and 3 million homeless, surpassed last year's Asian tsunami. A good number of the survivors are in remote mountains where surface roads are totally destroyed and the only way to reach them is either on foot or by helicopters.

With winter fast approaching in the Himalayas and the Karakorum Mountains, exposure will claim more fatalities. It is literally a race against time.

Pakistanis have responded to this catastrophe in an unprecedented manner, but the country cannot cope with a disaster of such magnitude alone. It needs help now.

Here are a few places to consider for your tax-deductible donations. Write Earthquake Relief in the memo on the check.

1. U.S. Committee for United Nations Development Program, P.O. Box. 65345, Washington D.C. 20035

2. APPNA Earthquake Relief Fund, 414 South Cass Ave., Westmont, Ill., 60559

3. Eidi International Foundation (USA), 42-07 National St., Corona, N.Y. 11368

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