Earthquakes don’t get names, like hurricanes do. They aren’t as rare or exotic as Tsunamis. Live video footage of the action is never captured. And we just don’t know that much about Pakistan anyway (at least nothing good).

So it was easy for the world-wide media to let it drop from the headlines. It was easy for Americans to say “Oh, i already gave money after the hurricane”. It was easy for me to assume that the relief efforts would be taken care of by the “international community” (i.e. not me).

The earthquake struck on 2005 Oct 8, near the contested Kashmir region of Pakistan and India. The immediate death tolls were 20,000. It soon doubled, then reached 60,000. it now stands at more than 80,000. With over 3 million people made homeless in one day, this count will surely continue to rise as the cold Himilayan winter descends.

With areas no where near as accessible as those affected by the tsunami, rubble blocking roads, aftershocks undoing vital clearing efforts, and freezing temperatures working their way down the mountains this is simply will not be easily dismissed.

But the international community came to the rescue, right? Money from national and individual donors should make clean up a snap, right? Well, it might, but much of promised money is not getting delivered, and individuals are suffering from “compassion fatigue”. Helicopters, supplies, cash, support people, etc. are scarse in Pakistan.

WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, Amir Abdulla said: “We must have much more funding, much sooner, to gain as much speed as humanly possible in the face of gigantic logistics difficulties.”

Pakistan is finally getting help from the UN to publicize the ongoing need. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is personally touring the country today:

Annan will attend a donor’s conference on Saturday aiming to raise the US $5.2 billion Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf says is needed for the Asian nation to recover from the disaster. Musharraf has called funds received so far from international donors “negligible”…

“We received some resources, but need much, much more to be able to help the people,” Annan said on arrival.

How things are still this bad FIVE weeks after the event i do not know. But it is clear that no more time can be wasted. It is clear to me that i need to give, not just my money but my time, my energy, my strength, my self. i can offer some practical love to those who are feeling forgotten by the world. It is an honor to do so.

I feel as though it was not only the mountains that trembled. Among the houses and lives that were shaken apart, my complacency, self-righteousness, and blindness to the needs of my fellow humans has crumbled. i didn’t hear the earth tremble, but i know the sound as that of a wake-up call to the complete interdependance of all humanity. i suppose that if i were to name this disaster, i would call it “WARNING” — a reminder that we cannot live our lives solely for our own nation, our own families, or even ourselves.