Quake crisis overwhelms Pakistan, India

      Srinagar/Islamabad: The crisis brought on by Saturday's earthquake measuring between 7.4 and 7.6 on the opn- ended Richter Scale has virtually overwhelmed authorities in both India and Pakistan. Official sources in both countries said that they are battling against time to save and retrieve as many survivors as possible, even as the death toll from the weekend calamity continues to mount. There are conflicting figures about the number of dead in both India and Pakistan, with some saying that it is in the region of 19,000 to 20,000, while others are saying that it has breached the 30,000 mark. XX N Quake crisis overwhelms Pakistan, India Srinagar/Islamabad: The crisis brought on by Saturday's earthquake measuring between 7.4 and 7.6 on the opn- ended Richter Scale has virtually overwhelmed authorities in both India and Pakistan. Official sources in both countries said that they are battling against time to save and retrieve as many survivors as possible, even as the death toll from the weekend calamity continues to mount. There are conflicting figures about the number of dead in both India and Pakistan, with some saying that it is in the region of 19,000 to 20,000, while others are saying that it has breached the 30,000 mark.

     A state government official said that the toll was expected to rise as there is no news from four villages in Teetwal area. Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has appealed for international aid, specifically for helicopters to enable his government and the army to ferry much needed relief and rehabilitation supplies to the remote and heavily damaged areas of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which have almost been rendered inaccessible. With some towns and villages completely flattened, the BBC quoted Musharraf as saying that Pakistan needed "massive cargo helicopter support" and aid supplies. The U.S. immediately came forward to offer eight military helicopters. Many other countries across the world have offered financial help and practical support. The earthquake, which hit the region at 9.20 a.m. on Saturday, is thought to have been the strongest earthquake in the region in a century. More than 1,000 bodies have reportedly been dug out of the rubble, including nearly 400 children who were buried alive when their schools collapsed. There are reports of children still trapped in the rubble. Angry residents say the only outside help so far had been occasional airdrops of food supplies. Survivors have been trooping along the roads out of the town, many of the people carrying the bodies of dead relatives in makeshift stretchers on their shoulders. About 200 soldiers are also thought to have been killed in the region by landslides and falling debris.

       On the Indian side, an army officer said that the priority now was getting urgent supplies of food and medicine, as well as blankets and tents to far-flung areas. Makeshift medical camps have been set up in the open to treat scores of the injured either because buildings are damaged or people are scared to go inside. "We need 30,000 tents, but the state government has only 1,000 tents. Another 10,000 tents have been promised by the federal government," a local legislator and Jammu and Kashmir's Minister for Consumer Affairs Taj Mohi-ud-din said. Jammu and Kashmir's Chief Secretary Vijay Bakaya was quoted by a foreign news agency as saying that "The toll is likely to go up." Angry residents in towns nearby said they had received no assistance. Air Force pilots who flew over Karnah in Keran sector in Kupwara district on the Line of Control for the first time reported heavy devastation. Almost 3,000 houses had been razed in Tangdhar alone. Thousands of security personnel are looking for survivors and dug out the dead in worst-hit Uri and Tangdhar areas and army and IAF helicopters ferried the injured to hospitals in Srinagar.

Quake toll in India 755, in Pak 32,000 (Go To Top)

     Srinagar/Islamabad: The death toll in Jammu and Kashmir has reached 755, while in Pakistan, UNICEF officials said that it was hovering between 32,000 and 40,000. The Indian Army and Air Force personnel are making a brave attempt to reach inaccessible and remote villages to pull out both dead bodies and survivors from the quake-hit region. According to information reaching the Police Control Room in Srinagar, Baramulla and Kupwara districts in north Kashmir alone have accounted for 469 and 259 deaths respectively. A state government official said that the toll was expected to rise as there is no news from four villages in Teetwal area. "The damage to property is colossal and there are over half a dozen villages in the Tangdhar area which are inaccessible as there is no road connectivity," senior Kashmir police official Javed Makdhoomi was quoted by the Reuters news agency, as saying. Hundreds are still feared trapped after landslides buried houses in the state. Makeshift medical camps have been set up in the open to treat scores of the injured either because buildings are damaged or people are scared to go inside. Communication lines in Uri and Kupwara are still down, the authorities said. A Aman Setu or Peace Bridge on the Line of Control, the de facto border across the disputed region, and connects the only highway between the Indian and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir has been damaged and closed to traffic. Indian Air Force pilots continue to fly rescue sorties over Karnah in the Keran sector in Kupwara district. Almost 3,000 houses had been razed in Tangdhar alone. Thousands of security personnel are on the look out for survivors, if any. In Pakistan, it is being said that between 30,000 and 40,000 people have died while as many as 60,000 have been injured,with children accounting for 50 percent of the population. Meanwhile, a series of aftershocks continued in Pakistan, as another moderate intensity quake rocked the country in the midnight. The quake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale hit Pakistan at 0050 hrs. The epicentre of the temblor was located between 34.6 degree North Latitude and 73.4 degree East Longitude, according to a Meterological department release in Islamabad.

IAF continues rescue operations in Kashmir (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: The Indian Air Force on Monday said that its Mi-17 planes carried out 46 sorties. It also said that 10 sorties and 64 sorties were carried out by Chetak and Cheetah helicopters carrying 197 passengers, adding that the total number of passengers carried or rescued by IAF helicopters was 274 through 144 sorties so far. The IAFs fixed wing transport fleet has flown a total of 14 sorties, lifting more than 41 tonnes of load and transporting over 70 passengers so far. The IAF has deployed 2 IL-76, 6 AN- 32s, 2 Dorniers and one Boeing 737 aircraft for this rescue and relief operations in Kashmir. The helicopters are operating between Uri, Srinagar, Jammu, Udhampur, Tangdhar and Kupwara. The transport aircraft were carrying Doctors, engineers and para medics along with relief material from Delhi, Chandigarh, Kanpur, Pathankot to Jammu and Srinagar. The load carried by IAF included tents, medicines, food, water and engineering equipment of army engineers.

Situation in quake-hit Pak grim: UNICEF (Go To Top)

     Peshawar: The UNICEF has said that the situation in the earthquake-hit areas in Pakistan's NWFP was grim, and that the UN body would soon be sending its teams to the affected areas to assess the damage and carry out relief work. Truckloads of emergency supplies, including 1700 blankets, 2000 sweaters, 1000 jerry cans for drinking water, 210 plastic roles of 40-meter each for temporary shelter and 840 plastic buckets, have already left Peshawar for Mansehra and more relief supplies would follow, the Daily Times quoted Osama Makkawi Khogali, the UNICEF Provincial Office chief, as saying. "Several schools have collapsed resulting in casualties and we are concerned about children. I have also asked the headquarters in Karachi to send more items," the UNICEF official said. He added that a relief operation team would go soon to Shangla and Batagram and another team would be dispatched to Mansehra to assess the quantum of damage caused by the earthquake. Khogali added that the proportion of relief assistance to be extended to the quake-hit areas would depend on the information provided by the Pakistan government. According to the paper, UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman said that the UN agency was preparing for a response to match the scale of the disaster. Noting that children comprised half the population of the affected areas, he said: "Children in the affected areas will be vulnerable to hunger, cold, illness, and trauma. Getting immediate life-saving relief into the region will be our priority for the next hours and days." Omar Abdi, the head of UNICEF's operations in Pakistan, reportedly said that the UNICEF and the WHO were providing logistical support and supplies to the teams sent by the Pakistan government to carry out relief operations. As per the latest version of the Pakistan government, the death toll after Saturday's earthquake might have crossed 40,000, even as the figure of the injured ran in lakhs.

$55 m Australian, US aid for quake-hit Pakistan (Go To Top)

     Washington: The Bush Administration has announced the allocation of 50 million dollars as initial aid for earthquake-hit Pakistan. It has also dispatched to a seven-person disaster response team, which is expected to reach Pakistan on Monday to begin coordinating American assistance and assessing further humanitarian needs. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said the assets were being made available in response to a request from President Pervez Musharraf and the Pakistan Government, which has asked for emergency shelter, food, water, medical supplies, transportation assets, and emergency management personnel. "The destruction and loss of life in Pakistan is massive, and the United States is responding rapidly and robustly," McClellan said. "We will continue to coordinate with the government of Pakistan to assess needs." Meanwhile, Australia has pledged 5.5 million dollars (4.18 million US dollars) in aid for the earthquake victims, up from an initial 500,000 dollar emergency relief promised at the weekend. "We'll initially be providing an additional five million now to international aid agencies, the Red Cross, the Red Crescent, the United Nations organisations, to focus on the provision of basic shelter, food and potable water," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.

     A state government official said that the toll was expected to rise as there is no news from four villages in Teetwal area. Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has appealed for international aid, specifically for helicopters to enable his government and the army to ferry much needed relief and rehabilitation supplies to the remote and heavily damaged areas of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which have almost been rendered inaccessible. With some towns and villages completely flattened, the BBC quoted Musharraf as saying that Pakistan needed "massive cargo helicopter support" and aid supplies. The U.S. immediately came forward to offer eight military helicopters. Many other countries across the world have offered financial help and practical support. The earthquake, which hit the region at 9.20 a.m. on Saturday, is thought to have been the strongest earthquake in the region in a century. More than 1,000 bodies have reportedly been dug out of the rubble, including nearly 400 children who were buried alive when their schools collapsed. There are reports of children still trapped in the rubble. Angry residents say the only outside help so far had been occasional airdrops of food supplies. Survivors have been trooping along the roads out of the town, many of the people carrying the bodies of dead relatives in makeshift stretchers on their shoulders. About 200 soldiers are also thought to have been killed in the region by landslides and falling debris.

     On the Indian side, an army officer said that the priority now was getting urgent supplies of food and medicine, as well as blankets and tents to far-flung areas. Makeshift medical camps have been set up in the open to treat scores of the injured either because buildings are damaged or people are scared to go inside. "We need 30,000 tents, but the state government has only 1,000 tents. Another 10,000 tents have been promised by the federal government," a local legislator and Jammu and Kashmir's Minister for Consumer Affairs Taj Mohi-ud-din said. Jammu and Kashmir's Chief Secretary Vijay Bakaya was quoted by a foreign news agency as saying that "The toll is likely to go up." Angry residents in towns nearby said they had received no assistance. Air Force pilots who flew over Karnah in Keran sector in Kupwara district on the Line of Control for the first time reported heavy devastation. Almost 3,000 houses had been razed in Tangdhar alone. Thousands of security personnel are looking for survivors and dug out the dead in worst-hit Uri and Tangdhar areas and army and IAF helicopters ferried the injured to hospitals in Srinagar.

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