Shake, Rattle and Roll

The earthquake started at around 2:45 a.m. By the time I was awake enough to realize what was happening it was almost over. Nothing dramatic happened like books falling off the shelves, but obviously there was a fair level of concern. Text messages were promptly exchanged between our MSF House and other locations. This morning we came to work with some trepidation (or at least those of us who had been awaken by the quake) wondering what the news might bring. It had measured 6.7 in magnitude and had struck the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan, about 350 kilometres away from Islamabad. While significant this was much less than the 7.6 that the Kashmir earthquake had measured. The day has passed with no further news so hopefully that’s the end of this story.

I’ve recently had a couple “It’s a small world” experiences. First, I had dinner last Friday with Gail, a woman I used to work with and haven’t seen for 14 years. She is now responsible for CARE Canada’s Emergency response and was in Pakistan for a one-week operational review.

Also, after several weeks of phone conversations I finally met Dave, MSF’s project coordinator at Quetta. I only know three people who grew-up in Dave’s home-town of Squamish and not surprisingly he knows all of them. More importantly, Dave is a fanatical hockey fan. Last Saturday morning we both surfaced from our respective offices after listening on the internet to the Canuck’s shoot-out victory over Ottawa, unaware that the other was also in the building doing the same thing. Today our topics included The French Connection, Moe Lemay and the 1990 NHL amateur draft. Did you know that the two players selected after the Canucks picked Shaun Antoski in the first round were Keith Tkachuk and Martin Brodeur?

Things are still really busy for me on the work front, but I’m hopeful that a more sustainable workload will soon be here. I’ve still only had one day off since arriving, but I’m optimistic about taking this Sunday off and I know I’m not working on Christmas. Its calming down at the office and I’m starting to feel like I’m getting my areas a bit under control. I’ve got a good handle on the financial component of my job, but I still have a ways to go with national staff human resources. That’s okay, as I still have 10 ½ months to have things cleaned-up and ready for my successor.