Removing Perceptions With Facts
In the company of Robert Bellhouse, Executive Director, Disaster Resource Network (DRN), an initiative of the World Economic Forum (WEF), I returned to the high mountains of my PMA Gentlemen Cadet (GC) days (1964-1965), and (later) Army Aviation (1968-1971) on a heli-tour of the affected areas. Thirty five years earlier as an Alouette-3 pilot of 4 Army Aviation Squadron in Dhamial (now Qasim Army Aviation Base) I would be on the roster (the happy fate of being one of three bachelors out of Squadron of 30 pilots) as “Pilot on Duty” to evacuate casualties from Azad Kashmir (AK). Approaching Mansehra in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) I became somewhat disoriented, the thickly wooded area beyond the Siran River from “Khaki” village to Oghi over the “black” mountains was no more. A proliferation of huts and houses dotting the landscape indicated significant increase in population, the tents alongside signifying enough damage to the structure in forcing the inhabitants to sleep outside.
