Re: Cricketers Sympathy
England Pair Join Relief Effort](http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/051030/4/en2u.html)
Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick found out for themselves the scale of the task facing those delivering emergency relief aid in northern Pakistan when they flew by RAF helicopter to lend a hand in the mountainous earthquake zone.
Space was found on the Chinook helicopter for the captain and vice-captain of the England cricket team who had been so moved by the human suffering they found two days ago at Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Science, where thousands of young survivors of their country’s worst natural disaster have been treated in the three weeks since the earthquake struck.
Vaughan and Trescothick flew with the RAF’s Number 27 squadron - based at Odiham - to the mountain settlements of Reban and Pir Pants in the Bagh region of Azad Kashmir, among those worst affected by the earthquake which has so far claimed an estimated 80,000 lives.
The fear is that many who have survived so far will die in the winter months if food and cover does not arrive in time.
“It hit home when we visited the hospital that it was a massive disaster - but to actually get up to the scene is something different,” Vaughan said, after returning to the Chaclala military airfield near Islamabad.
“When you first spot the houses from above you just see the actual roofs - but then you realise the buildings have all actually come down,” he said.
The England captain was struck too by the enduring human spirit of people who have already lost homes, parents or children in the disaster.
“When you are delivering the aid it is amazing that you see so many kids up there who are still smiling,” he said.
“But after seeing it for ourselves, we know there is still a huge amount of hard work to be done.”
Landing a helicopter in Reban is a very hazardous operation, and there have already been casualties among those delivering aid.
“There was just one little piece of grass we found for the helicopter to land on,” Vaughan reported.
"There were people who had lost their homes but were looking for some cover so they could still try to live near the family home.
“There was some amazing scenery up there in the mountains, and people were waving us in desperate to get the aid there as quickly as possible.”
**It all left Vaughan and Trescothick full of admiration for the pilots and crew who fly three or four missions a day. **
“These guys do an amazing job - not just flying the helicopters but all the hard work that goes into the delivery of the aid,” said Vaughan on his return from a trip which carried parcels of rice, macaroni and dates from funds raised in England by the Manchester Pakistan Unity and co-ordinated with the help of the Department of Foreign Investment and Development.
“There is a heck of a lot more hard work to be done still, and the most important thing is that people keep trying to raise the awareness,” Vaughan concluded.
**Trescothick was equally impressed by the work he saw being done. **
“We had two stops. We took off all the flour and food parcels - and the second time we landed we didn’t have time to give out the bags…the people just ran up and dragged it off themselves,” he said.
“You are very high up in the mountains there, so there are no lorries or anything like that the other end - it is just a case of people seeing the stuff and taking it off.”
Group Captain Les O’Dea was leading the crew, who were thankful for the help of the England cricketers.
“It certainly raises the profile - but having the cricketers come and help also lifts the morale of the team who are working so hard here,” he said.
“It gives them that extra three or four muscles’ worth of strength to get the bags into the aircraft too.”
Group Captain O’Dea, commander of the British contingent in Pakistan, spoke with pride of the dedication of those working alongside him.
“Some of the engineers have been sleeping by the sides of the aircraft so that no time is wasted in getting them ready to fly,” he said.
"It’s a hard, hard graft for the people loading the aircraft. But it is worth it and it is certainly needed. “It’s daunting. But these aircraft are making a huge difference - and seeing aid delivered to the people makes it very much a worthwhile effort.”
:Salute: 
