/ 17 October 2005

Aid finally reaches quake survivors

Aid finally started reaching some of Pakistan’s thousands of cold and hungry earthquake survivors on Monday as helicopters, trucks and donkeys raced to reach Himalayan villages cut off for nine days.

The sun shone after two days of heavy rain that grounded flights, letting dozens of choppers scour the mountains where aid workers warn thousands could die within days without food, tents and blankets.

“The main thing that has changed in the last 24 hours is that it seems to be more under control, as far as this situation can be,” said Alain Pasche, the United Nations coordination chief in Pakistani Kashmir’s ravaged capital of Muzaffarabad.

But the sometimes risky aid missions also brought more harrowing tales of death and destruction. The leader of Pakistani Kashmir put the toll from South Asia’s disaster at more than 54 000, a drastic rise from the 40 000 given by the central government.

“I’m used to working in war zones and this reminds me of a war zone,” said Zia Alvi, a doctor with British-based Doctors Overseas Charity.

Eighty aid flights

Major Farooq Nasir, the army spokesperson in Muzaffarabad, said the clear skies would permit about 80 air sorties on Monday, one of the highest since the 7,6-magnitude earthquake tore apart entire villages on October 8.

“We are pushing into far-flung locations so soldiers are able to carry goods up in the mountain,” he said. A road from Muzaffarabad to the town of Ghari Dupatta, which had been supplied only by air, would soon be reopened, Nasir said.

Balakot, a town razed to the ground north-west of Muzaffarabad, received its first trucks on Monday from the UN World Food Programme bringing in badly needed wheat and beans for 700 people.

But in a sign of how much relief work remains to be done, Mia Turner, a spokesperson for the World Food Programme, said about 600 of the 900 villages in the Balakot area remain inaccessible.

“We have no food, no tents, no blankets. We sleep in the open at night,” said Zahoor Ahmed (34), a resident of the Kashmiri town of Dhani which is now no more than a few tents made from blankets and plastic. “We are suffering.”

And the clear skies also brought misery of a different sort to residents, with temperatures dropping overnight to near freezing point in Balakot and mountain villages in Kashmir.

Relief groups say thousands of earthquake survivors face hypothermia, diarrhoea and other diseases unless they immediately get bedding and shelter. But Pakistan has said it cannot guarantee that all the homeless will have tents.

Pakistan is importing tents from India “on an urgent basis”, the foreign ministry said on Monday.

“In order to meet the acute shortage of winterised tents, Pakistan’s high commissioner in New Delhi had been asked to arrange procurement of this item from India on an urgent basis,” the ministry said in a statement.

Medical phase ‘winding down’

A Red Cross worker said a team reached the village of Shikar south-east of Muzaffarabad where they found that five people who could have been saved had died just the day before.

“The urgent medical phase is now winding down. Structures are being put in place on the ground,” said Olivier Moeckli, of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Army rescuers on Monday saved two children from the mountains in north-western Pakistan nine days after the earthquake, the military said.

Five-year-old Tajun Nissa was rescued by troops in Hassa village near the town of Balakot in North West Frontier province, it said in a statement.

In the other rescue, an eight-year-old boy, Abdul Jabbar, who had been stranded at a village since the October 8 earthquake, was found in the Kaghan valley north from Balakot, it said.

The boy had come from Haripur town to see his relatives in the village of Jareed when the earthquake killed his hosts.

“He was left alone for eight days till he was recovered by army rescue teams early Monday,” the statement said.

Sikandar Hayat Khan, the prime minister of the Pakistani side of the divided region of Kashmir, said the death toll could rise much higher in his region as the military and relief teams reach the outlying mountains.

“With all responsibility, I can say that not less than 40 000 are killed,” Khan said late on Sunday.

“There are still cities which are not cleared of debris and the death toll could go to 70 000 or 80 000. It is the worst tragedy in our history,” he said.

But some signs of life were returning to Muzaffarabad, where dozens more shops reopened, including a bakery, a barber and grocery stores.

“The shop is all I have left and it’s open because I have to make money,” said shopkeeper Saqib Awan, whose sister died in the earthquake. “But I don’t know if we have any future.”

UN calls aid conference

The UN has scheduled an international conference next week on aid to earthquake-hit Pakistan, its humanitarian arm said on Monday.

Elisabeth Byrs, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), said the October 24 meeting is expected to bring together ministers from Pakistan and donor countries, plus international aid agencies and other relief groups.

Byrs said Ocha is hoping that donor countries will transform their promised help into solid support, as Pakistan reels in the aftermath of the quake.

Ocha organised a similar conference in January to take stock of relief efforts after the Indian Ocean tsunami and drum up more aid for affected countries.

The UN has so far received $6-million of the $272-million it appealed for after the earthquake, while donors have pledged another $44-million.

Most of the aid has been in kind — ranging from food supplies to helicopter flight hours.

The UN figure does not include all the direct aid to Pakistan offered by donor countries.

Byrs said the UN will likely increase its appeal by another $40-million in coming weeks.

The UN also estimates that billions of dollars will be needed for a massive reconstruction effort lasting more than a decade.

Although neighbouring India was also affected, next week’s UN conference will focus on Pakistan because New Delhi has not asked for foreign aid. — AFP