From this morning's Times Herald-Record.
Middletown – As desperate rescuers comb through flattened villages and devastated cities laid to waste by Saturday's killer quake in Pakistan, the images of horror hit home for many here in the Hudson Valley.
For some, like Hussan Din of Scotchtown, those images strike like a spear through the heart.
Hussan lost at least 26 members of his immediate family in the quake, all killed in his home village of Prim Koot, in Azad Kashmir.
He lost his bother-in-law, his sister-in-law, all of their children and much of their extended families.
Hussan said the quake completely flattened his mountain village, killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless.
Most of those killed were children, Hussan said.
"There is nothing," Hussan said. "They have no blankets, they have no food. Many roads are destroyed, and nobody can reach them to help."
Hussan and dozens of Muslim members of the Middletown Islamic Center, celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, gathered last night to pray, to reflect and to support one another in the wake of the disastrous quake.
"We have been reaching out to each other, praying and collecting money to help," said the center's president, Dr. Quazi Al-Tariq. "Nothing like this has happened in a hundred years. It's absolutely horrible.
Most of the center's members are from Pakistan and have family there. None, though, was as hard hit as Hussan.
Hussan last visited his family in 2002. Wednesday, he'll be heading home again to try to pick up the pieces.
So far, Hussan said, Prim Koot has seen no help at all from Pakistan's government. Hussan said he'll help in any way he can, even if that means digging through rubble with his bare hands.
"I'm going to go there and try to help my family and the other villagers as well," he said.
The Middletown Islamic Center is collecting donations that will be given directly to the Pakistani government's quake relief effort. Donations can be mailed to the center at 169 Ryerson Road, New Hampton, NY 10958.
Story by Dave Richardson.
Here's a report on the quake from the Red Cross.
The Red Cross and the Red Crescent's donation page.
Doctors Without Borders.
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