Imagine an earthquake striking the United States with such force that it kills more than 80,000 people and leaves as many, if not more, homeless. Imagine, too, that all of the hospitals in the area were severely damaged or destroyed, and there were no police, fire fighters or rescue workers. And imagine, if you will, that the 7.6 magnitude quake struck as the school day began and killed hundreds of thousands of children in the falling debris.
That was northern Pakistan in October 2005. I was stunned to see the widespread devastation as I and AP reporter Robert Tanner entered the earthquake zone near Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Tanner and I had been assigned as a multimedia team, something new for the AP in the fall of 2005. As a supplement to our spot-news coverage, our job was to find and record slices of life in that destroyed place. We left Islamabad in a taxi and drove straight into the quake zone.
Our new multimedia effort was without precedent. The AP had never reported a story in this fashion and each day, Tanner and I winged it. The portion of our reporting that has shadowed me these past 14 years was the family we spent a day with in a mountainous area near the Kashmir capital of Muzaffarabad. Their home was destroyed, forcing them to live in tents. This extended family of three generations coped with the tragedy as best as they could and never cried or whined about their fate. As a matter of fact, I never once saw any of them downbeat about what had happened.
That was northern Pakistan in October 2005. I was stunned to see the widespread devastation as I and AP reporter Robert Tanner entered the earthquake zone near Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Tanner and I had been assigned as a multimedia team, something new for the AP in the fall of 2005. As a supplement to our spot-news coverage, our job was to find and record slices of life in that destroyed place. We left Islamabad in a taxi and drove straight into the quake zone.
Our new multimedia effort was without precedent. The AP had never reported a story in this fashion and each day, Tanner and I winged it. The portion of our reporting that has shadowed me these past 14 years was the family we spent a day with in a mountainous area near the Kashmir capital of Muzaffarabad. Their home was destroyed, forcing them to live in tents. This extended family of three generations coped with the tragedy as best as they could and never cried or whined about their fate. As a matter of fact, I never once saw any of them downbeat about what had happened.
A Pakistani father and son leave a makeshift medical facility near Muzaffarabad. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
An injured Pakistani girls waits for treatment at a field hospital. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
Injured children wait to be treated at a field hospital near Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
A Pakistani doctor looks over xrays of an injured girl. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
A family stands outside their earthquake destroyed home in the mountains near Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
The youngest member of a three generation family rest on a rope bed. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
A family shelters in a tent outside their destroyed home near Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
A Pakistan father holds his son in the doorway of their earthquake destroyed home in the mountains near Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
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