CARITAS Australia launched a major humanitarian appeal as casualties continued to rise last week following one of South Asia’s worst earthquakes.
More than 20,000 people were killed and at least 42,000 were injured in the 7.6 magnitude quake on October 8 that unleashed its worst fury on Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, wiping towns off the map and burying victims in tombs of mud and rubble.
Caritas Australia chief executive officer Jack de Groot said the organisation was accepting donations to help the thousands left homeless.
Mr de Groot said Caritas Australia partners had already conducted preliminary assessments in many areas affected by the disaster.
Pope Benedict XVI appealed to the international community on October 9 to be “swift and generous” in dispatching aid to people of stricken by the earthquake.
The president of the Pakistani bishops’ conference expressed his grief following the country’s worst ever earthquake and urged all Pakistani Christians to contribute one day’s wages for relief aid.
Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore expressed his “profound shock and grief at the large-scale destruction of life and property caused by the great earthquake”.
Fr Sebastian Kalapura, who is principal of St Joseph’s School in Baramula, in India’s Jammu and Kashmir state, said assessing the damage was difficult because rain and landslides had blocked roads to some villages.
Deputy director of Caritas India, Fr Varghese Mattamana, said on October 10 that the Church and its agencies “will remain engaged for the long term” in Kashmir.
To donate to the Caritas Australia Pakistan South Asia Earthquake Appeal phone 1800 024 413 or donate online at www.caritas.org.au
