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We've asked Sherry to jot down some of her experiences as she travels throughout Southeast Asia helping animals that are in need because of massive natural disasters. Click here for a listing of all of her diaries.
Sherry's Diary
Too Much to Take All At Once
Sherry Grant
Sri Lanka
15 October 2005
What a cruel twist to World Animal Week - AND NOW THEY NEED HELP
I was in Australia to speak at a fundraising event for HSI's continued support in the Tsunami affected areas. While I sat at my computer finishing up my presentation, Neil Trent, HSI's Executive Director and my boss, popped up in my chat window with many exclamation marks. A big cyclone (or hurricane) had assaulted India's eastern seaboard on 21 September and was causing major flooding. It sounded like New Orleans all over again.
Neil had received a desperate plea for help from Pradeep Nath, the president and founder of the Visakha SPCA. Visakha (or Visakhapatnam.) is located on the eastern coast of India on the Sea of Bengal.
Neil explained that HSI was going to send, what turned out to be, a life saving donation and wanted to deploy a response effort to the area.
The speaking trip was cut short and I quickly made plans to get back to our Bali headquarters in order to change suitcases and commence coordinating our response. I picked up my email while enroute and discovered that a massive 7.6 earthquake had occurred in Kashmir Pakistan and India. It was too much to take in all at once.
Immediately after getting to Bali, I got on to the phone and internet and started networking with all of our HSI contacts in India and Pakistan. In India I made contact with Dr. Chinny, of the Chennai Blue Cross, and Erika Abrams with the Animal Aid Society in Udaipore. In Pakistan I contacted the Brooke Veterinary Hospital.
Information started coming in. As the earthquake was still so new and human rescue efforts were just beginning, it seemed that India was most in need of immediate help with the animals. We have learned that from past experience that it is difficult to go into a disaster area too early as the human aid organizations, many with whom we work, must first deal with the humanity issues and lay the ground work for our work.
Soon, news of flooding and cyclone was eclipsed by breaking news of the devastating earthquake. The early reports put the deaths at 1,800 but we all knew that that it would rise leaving tens of thousands of people dead and thousands of dead and abandoned animals.
I got an email from Rahul Sehgal, of AHF in Ahmedabad, India. He also cut a trip short and was heading back to India from the United States. Rahul was going to do what he does best – responding to his mother country's unending natural disasters.
It was Monday morning and the emails were flying back and forth. Everyone was still in the dark about the earthquake and relying on CNN and BBC for immediate news. But there was no news about the animals accept for a brief clip on BBC of a crying man who had lost his entire family and cows. We all made our assumptions based on the region and our past experiences. The most vulnerable were the working animals and livestock which in the end would be dead if they were not looked after. Thus, this was both a animal welfare issue as well as an economic one, since to a farmer his animals are critical to his livelihood.
While in most of Asia I am able to get visas upon arrival, this was not the case in India and Pakistan. Further, holidays in Indonesia prevented me from even applying for a visa for several days.
My frustration was mounting – I was stalled by something beyond my control. I made the immediate decision to go to Sri Lanka and get a visa there. I figured that I would be closer to the disasters and I could also catch up on HSI's work there with the Tsunami Memorial Animal Welfare Trust (TMAWT).
When I arrived to Sri Lanka I picked up an email from the Visakha SPCA acknowledging that they had received the emergency money sent by HSI. Eileen Weintraub, Visakha SPCA's U.S. coordinator, later referred to this as the ‘life saving wire transfer’.
But it was the heart felt message and photos from Pradeep (Pradeep's letter) that put it all into perspective and showed what the news had not covered. Miraculously all 700 animals were saved but much work remained.
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