ESCONDIDO – As Chris Skopec distributed sacks of flour to survivors of the magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Balakot, Pakistan, the white residue dusting his navy blue shirt foreshadowed a harsher substance to come – snow.
The quake left an estimated death toll of 87,000, at least 200,000 injured and about 3 million displaced.
"They had their houses totally destroyed and were living in tents that were distributed hastily after the earthquake," said Skopec, a former Escondido resident and assistant director with the California Conservation Corps. "The tents, for the most part, were not winterized. It was clear that better shelter was going to be required if we did not want to see additional thousands of deaths due to insufficient shelter."
Skopec, a former Peace Corps volunteer and graduate of San Pasqual High School, was called to the region in late October with California Conservation Corps Supervisor Larry Notheis, a Poway resident. They helped distribute food.
Both relief workers were stationed in Mansehra, though they did the bulk of their work in and around Balakot, about an hour-and-a-half drive away.
Upon arrival they could feel the temperature dropping each night.
"We were indoors with sleeping bags, but you just knew that the people in the tents were really struggling," said Skopec, 31. "People were very appreciative of (the food), but what everyone was saying was, 'When do we get more blankets? When do we get more sufficient shelter?' "
California Conservation Corps workers were there to assist Relief International, a nonprofit that provides emergency aid, rehabilitation and development assistance around the world.
Notheis took a week of vacation to remain in the country and continue his efforts.
"Some of the areas had not received any distribution whatsoever," said Notheis, who has worked with the California Conservation Corps for nearly 10 years. "We went to a leper colony where no one had gone for three weeks, so they were extremely thankful and courteous. ... They had some tents and some makeshift structures, but they hadn't received any food or any help in that manner for three weeks."
Some of the areas Skopec and Notheis visited were three hours away, via narrow roads and hills prone to landslides.
"The roads were very damaged," said Notheis, 38. "We got stuck during a landslide for three hours one day. ... It was about 17 kilometers to the next village where we could then get a taxi or some other transportation."
Notheis helped with relief efforts during Hurricane Rita and several California earthquakes, including Northridge. He said the devastation he encountered in Pakistan surpassed any experience he he'd had.
"They don't have the infrastructure with the roads and the bridges to be able to deal with an earthquake of that size ... People are in utter fear over there to go into their houses because there's so many aftershocks," he said. "Every child I talked to over there had lost a brother or a sister or a mother or a father."
