The imperialist domination of both nations and the capitalist regimes in Islamabad and New Delhi maximized the human toll.

The U.S. government is taking advantage of the catastrophe to further consolidate its relationship with the Pakistani regime, an important ally in Washington’s “war on terror.” NATO officials announced October 21 plans to send up to 1,000 soldiers to Pakistan, but only four helicopters, Agence France-Presse reported. The U.S.-led military alliance made clear that they would not stage an airlift.

As of now, 20 governments have provided only 68 operational helicopters, which are the only way of providing tents, food, and medical supplies to the many villages made unreachable when the few roads there were buried by landslides. UNICEF, the UN children’s organization, estimates that 10,000 more children will die in weeks unless needed aid reaches them immediately.  
 
Cuba sends medical brigade
One country with relatively few resources has set an example. Some 200 Cuban doctors, nurses, and paramedics arrived in Pakistan October 21. They were deployed to a military hospital in Islamabad and the worst-hit towns of Balakot and Abbottabad in North West Frontier Province to help in the medical effort.

“We are happy to be here to help our Pakistani brothers and sisters and we are ready to work despite the very long flight,” Francisco Rivera, a nurse from the Cuban city of Santa Clara, told Reuters at a military airbase in Rawalpindi after a 26-hour flight from Havana.

The Cuban medical team, which makes up one of the largest foreign contingents of medical workers in Pakistan, is prepared to stay for at least 90 days. The Cuban government has covered the transportation and food expenses for the operation.

An estimated 2-3 million people have been left homeless. Still there are no plans to evacuate people who will face the Himalayan winter in tents at best. UN official Jesper Lund reported that aid agencies plan to send 83,000 tents. But at least 450,000 are needed, he said. As of October 15, only 18,000 tents had been distributed, reported Associated Press. Lund added that in response to the UN appeal for $312 million for aid relief, governments have pledged only $86 million.

Rescue efforts that do exist are limited by the country’s lack of infrastructure caused by decades of imperialist domination and brutal capitalist regimes. According to a U.S. government profile, a little over half the highways in Pakistan are paved. Per capita energy consumption is only 5 percent that of the United States. Some 32 percent of the people live below the official poverty line, and more than half are illiterate. The government is also saddled with a $34 billion debt owed primarily to banks in imperialist countries.

Though Kashmir is one of the areas of the world most vulnerable to earthquakes, most homes, schools, and other buildings are constructed out of mud bricks, field stones, and timber wood.

The governments of India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir. The Kashmiri independence struggle has its roots in British imperialism’s division of its colonial empire. Trying to hold on to its power in face of a rising independence struggle across India, the British rulers in 1947 divided the country into a Muslim state of Pakistan and a largely Hindu state of India. Fighting was especially fierce in Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim region ruled by a Hindu aristocracy. Washington has made progress in turning the Pakistani regime of Gen. Pervez Musharraf into an important ally in its “war on terrorism.” At the same time, the U.S. rulers have improved relations with India. Islamabad has carried out joint military operations with U.S. Special Forces against the Taliban on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border. Washington has also worked to develop closer relations with New Delhi, helping to reduce its conflict with the Pakistani regime.
 
 
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Cuba sets example in response to Hurricane Wilma  
 
 
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