Update on post-quake efforts and how you can help

The following was just sent from a friend on the ground:

Dear all,

This is an update of whats happening in District Bagh, Pakistani Kashmir. The intended audience are my relatives in UK, USA and Canada and my friends in and outside Pakistan. You may forward this mail to other friends who might be interested in helping us out in the aid effort.

I visited Bagh on the day after the quake and managed to get a team of people from the survivors from amongst the locals to manage the distribution across Bagh. Amjad Yousaf will co-ordinate the aid from his house in the city centre (or what was the city centre). We intend to get food, medical, tents, sleeping bags across hopefully to each remote village in Bagh. In my estimate there have been 20,000 dead just in Bagh. And many more will die because of pneumonia and hunger in the next few days if we dont get these basic necessities across to them.

What we have done uptil now is to send a heavy machine to clear the land slide on the dholi road going out from Bagh city. Tomorrow we need to send two more machines across towards bagh to sudn-gali land slide. This will help us establish road links with the remote villages making aid distribution easier. The army is helping as much as it can but we must realise that they need help as much help as the locals do in Bagh. There is no civil administration, it got wiped out in the quake. The major politicians and political workers also died. Most college going youngsters died. So we are working with very minimal human resources in Bagh to distribute aid.

Theres lots of aid available in islamabad (food, clothing, medical stuff) but the problem we are facing right now is in getting this stuff to Bagh. So we need to hire trucks (a rare commodity now given the pressing need over vast areas) and heavy equipment for clearing landslides. Secondly, given the transport bottle neck we are intending to buy food stuff from whole salers in Bagh who have decided to hoard goods in their warhouses understandably! We have been discussing a possibiliy of a negotiated price for buying food stuff from these warehouses in Bagh. These are the ways in which your money will be immediately used. If you are interested and able to contribute you can give in money at the following accounts. We will give a balance sheet at the end of the aid process which in my estimate will take over a few months. The best way to transfer funds would be through Western Union unless you want to use HSBC e-transfer to my account. Please also send an email with details of what amount you have sent and to which account so that we can keep track of your donations.

Account holders name: Adeel Khan
HSBC A/C: 02365928
Sort code: 401608

Account holders name: Majid Yousaf
18207-3
HBL
INB trading centre branch, Islamabad

Account holders name: Kashmir Institute of International Relations
2735-51
G-9/4 Branch
Bank Al-Falah Dollar Account: 01800967

Thank you for your time,

Adeel Khan
PhD candidate
University of Cambridge