Church officials describe chaos in relief effort for Pakistan

Published: 2005-10-21

NEW DELHI, India (CNS) -- Pakistani church officials described conditions of chaos as aid agencies struggled with logistics to distribute relief to victims of a major earthquake. Relief supplies to some 3 million people were piling up in major cities and towns, said Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore, president of the Pakistani bishops' conference. "It is a chaotic and near anarchic situation," Archbishop Saldanha told Catholic News Service Oct. 21, nearly two weeks after the magnitude 7.6 earthquake hit the Kashmir region of Pakistan and India. Officials estimate 79,000 people were killed by the quake. "The government cannot be blamed for this. The roads are blocked, and helicopters are the only means to access many areas," said Archbishop Saldanha. He and other Pakistani church leaders spoke to CNS by telephone. Bishop Anthony Lobo of Islamabad-Rawalpindi told CNS that distribution was a huge problem. With no proper traffic management, he said, hundreds of trucks carrying relief material to Muzzafarabad and beyond were stuck in traffic jams along mountain roads.

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