Emergency relief case study (1)

PAKISTAN: Four-year-old Ishfaq reunited with his three brothers

(The names of the children have been changed due to child protection reasons).

Four-year-old Ishfaq was at home with his three older brothers (eleven-year-old Ilyas, ten-year-old Sajjad and eight-year-old Ikhlaq) and both of his parents, when the devastating 8 October 2005 earthquake struck and destroyed large areas of Azad Kashmir. The parents were inside and the boys were playing outside, when suddenly the earth shook and the roof of the house collapsed.

In the chaos which followed the 7.6 magnitude quake, the older three siblings thought that both of their parents and little Ishfaq had been buried in the sea of rubble that had once been their home. However, only the dead body of the mother was found.

The three boys were able to find their uncle who put them in the care of SOS Children Pakistan.  Our “search and rescue” team brought the brothers to the SOS Emergency Shelter in Rawalpindi. On 4 January 2006, SOS Children was informed that the father of the boys had been found alive, but that he was severely injured and in hospital.

Now only the fate of little Ishfaq was still unknown. However, on 15 February 2006, the uncle contacted the “search and rescue” team of SOS Children with the good news that Ishfaq had been located. Army officials had found the youngest sibling on the streets and had airlifted the boy to a nearby hospital for treatment. In February, Ishfaq was brought back to his hometown of Kathachoghali in Azad Kashmir.

The “search and rescue” team of SOS Children reunited Ishfaq with his three brothers at the SOS Emergency Relief Shelter in Rawalpindi on 17 February 2006.