Queen Rania consoles quake survivors
Bureau Report

MUZAFFARABD—Queen Rania Al-Abdullah II of Jordan Saturday said the global response to help the affected people of Oct 8 earthquake was “not enough” and asked the world to fulfill its moral obligation to save the lives. “If we do not act now, thousands more innocent people are going to die ... I have seen the global response effort in Pakistan, and I must tell you, it’s not enough,” she told reporters during her visit to the devastated capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Queen Rania soon after her arrival at Islamabad flew in to Muzaffarabad to express solidarity with the affected people and to show her country’s full support. The Queen also brought a consignment of relief goods with her.
She said the world has the power — and the moral obligation to save the lives of the affected people and the effort should be untiring. “United and focused, we can deliver even more aid to thousands of people. We can save even more lives — and we must,” she said.
Queen Rania joined the growing number of leaders who are urging the world community to do more to help the quake affected people. Earlier the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan echoed similar sentiments. The United Nations Friday also made an impassioned appeal to help the quake affected people and said unless US 250 million dollars were provided it would scale down its relief operations. Underlining the urgency of the situation, Queen Rania said, “this is one of the biggest natural disasters we have ever seen. She however added that the worse thing apart from the size and scale of the earthquake was the emotional and physical aftershocks.
“These are going to be worse if we do not increase the humanitarian aid effort now,” she said. The harsh winter months are only four weeks away and by then all the affected communities must be equipped with food, shelter, blankets and clothes, Queen Rania said. “If we do not act now, thousands more innocent people are going to die”. About the plight of the thousands of orphan and injured children she said “with care, their broken bodies will heal. But just as urgent, and just as painful, are the wounds we cannot see — the psychological trauma of what they have endured and how much they have lost. They need our help and support to cope”.
Queen Rania also urged the media to continue airing the urgency of the needs, showing the images and sharing the heartbreaking stories “to keep our collective conscience aware of how much remains to be done”. The Queen visited the Al-Abbasi Institute of Medical Science, where she saw the ongoing immunization programme by UNICEF. The hospital, one of the few which survived the devastating earthquake of 7.6 magnitude, is catering to the medical needs of over 200 patients from Muzaffarabad and adjoining areas. Queen Rania went to different beds and talked to patients. She enquired about their health and assured that they would get well soon.
The doctors said that most of the injured brought to the hospital suffer from multiple fractures and head injuries due to falling debris. Queen Rania also visited a tent school, also run by the UNICEF. The school has been set up in the playground of Govt Girls High School Narol, along side the rubble of the existing school. The UNICEF has provided the tent, the teaching and studying material and aims to help the children return to normal life, after undergoing the traumatic experience. More than ninety government and private schools in Muzaffarabad district either collapsed or were badly damaged by the earthquake.
Jordan was one of the few countries that rushed in relief supplies after the tremor struck three weeks ago that has so far left over 55,000 people, wounded over 78,000 others and rendered nearly three million without shelter. Jordan has since dispatched five planeloads of goods comprising tents, medicines, blankets and food items for the victims in Pakistan. The Gulf country also organized a state-run telethon on Friday to raise funds for the quake victims and collected more than half a million dollars in the first hour of the campaign. Minister for Social Welfare Zobaida Jalal accompanied Queen Rania on visit to Muzaffarabad.