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The earthquake that hit south Asia on October 8 killed over 87,000 people. But the quake’s destruction left three million survivors in Pakistan’s Kashmir province without homes or communities. Many of those survivors live in mountain villages, further isolated by the destruction of the few roads — usually just one road — that reach them. Now that the snow and cold have arrived, the first deaths of survivors have been reported. Unless shelter can be provided quickly, more will die. Getting food and other aid delivered to those isolated villages is the job of Canadian Keith Ursel, a Program Officer with the UN’s World Food Programme. The WFP that in the earthquake zone “2.3 million people will require food assistance at least through April 2006.” While reporting from Kashmir, the CBC’s Paul Workman met Ursel and this documentary is the inside story of WFP’s efforts, including both the joys and frustrations, the dedication and the bureaucracy, the accomplishments and the mistakes. Keith Ursel has been with the World Food Programme since 1998, working in places like Kosovo, Afghanistan, Central Africa and the Middle East. He interrupted his work in Gaza to help out in Indonesia after the tsunami hit in December 2004, then he left Gaza again for Pakistan shortly after the earthquake. Before joining the WFP he was with the aid group Doctors without Borders from 1992-1998, serving in another list of the world’s hot spots: Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Chechnya, Sri Lanka, and Kosovo. Ursel was kidnapped and was briefly held hostage in Chechnya. He has been shot at and bombed. Ursel is from Winnipeg, a graduate of Grant Park High School and the University of Manitoba. He has also worked as a park ranger and a registered nurse. |
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