UN: Half a million quake victims still without aid
The UN World Food Programme today warned that half a million earthquake survivors had yet to receive relief supplies, and Pakistan’s president said during a visit to a quake-stricken town that he had appealed to the international community for more tents to shelter the homeless.
Under sunny skies, Pakistani and US military helicopters delivered aid at a brisk pace to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan’s portion of the divided Kashmir region, which suffered most of the damage and casualties from last week’s massive earthquake.
Relief workers rushed to set up field hospitals to treat thousands of stranded, injured people.
The relief effort is one of the most challenging the world has ever faced, according to James Morris, executive director of the WFP.
“The aid agencies have managed to give some help to hundreds of thousands of people, but there are an estimated half a million more people out there in desperate need, who no one has managed to reach,” Morris said in Dubai.
“People don’t just need food. First of all they need shelter, blankets and medical assistance – then food and clean water.”
The WFP said hundreds of villages had not yet received help. Heavy rains on Sunday grounded many relief flights.
Authorities warned that exposure and infections could drive the death toll up from 54,000 as the harsh Himalayan winter loomed. Landslides caused by the 7.6-magnitude earthquake on October 8 cut off many roads, and they could take weeks to clear.
Major Farooq Nasir, an army spokesman, said smaller helicopters would take relief goods brought by big choppers to forward bases in the Neelum and Jhelum valleys, home to remote mountain villages.
The United Nations said more than 80 helicopters were flying, and that the world body was planning to send up to 150,000 tents for the homeless, in addition to about 30,000 already distributed.
It said field hospitals with operating theatres were being set up, improving the survival chances for those requiring urgent surgery, but that the large numbers of patients was still “overwhelming”.
Keith Ursel, Muzaffarabad operations head for the WFP, said thousands of lives were at stake.
“We need 570 tonnes of food every day to feed the affected people stranded in these villages,” he said. “It is always a mixture of starvation, wounds or rough weather and fear which lead to massive deaths in such a situation.”
Some 1,360 people died in the Indian-held part of divided Kashmir. Conflict in Indian Kashmir continued today, with suspected Islamic militants killing the state’s education minister during a raid on a high-security neighbourhood that also left at least three others dead.
Soldiers were exchanging fire with militants holed up at the home of the minister, Ghulam Nabi Lone, police said.
The attack came despite an order from the United Jihad Council, an umbrella organisation of militant groups, to suspend attacks after the quake.
India has provided some aid to Pakistan, but turned down a Pakistani suggestion that it send military helicopters – without crews – to help with relief work.
Pakistan, which has fought two of its three wars with India over Kashmir, said it could not have the Indian military involved directly in relief efforts.
Some 80,000 people were injured in the quake. The United Nations has estimated 3.3 million were left without homes and need food and shelter ahead of the approaching winter, with snow already falling in some affected areas.
Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf travelled by helicopter today to the Kashmiri town of Bagh, where he met earthquake victims with broken limbs and other injuries. He said shelter was a priority.
“We gave all the tents that the army had. We bought all that were in Pakistan. Now we are looking abroad, in the international community,” Musharraf said.
Major General Shaukat Sultan, Pakistan’s chief army spokesman, said relief workers were expected to reach all affected villages in the next few days, though he acknowledged that many places that have received aid might not have adequate shelter.
He said another 24 US military Chinook helicopters were expected to arrive in about a week to assist in relief efforts.
Some soldiers were delivering aid on foot and carrying out injured people on their backs. Soldiers also drove mule teams with relief supplies to some mountain villages.
The UN International Labour Organisation warned that more than 1.1 million jobs may have been lost as a result of the earthquake in Pakistan.
In Muzaffarabad, some shops reopened for business, and a military-run telecommunications company set up camps where residents can make telephone calls or send e-mails and faxes, free of charge.
