ISLAMABAD, 18 October 2005 — With weather improving, aid finally started reaching Pakistan’s earthquake survivors yesterday, but thousands still remained exposed to the elements and the threat of diseases.
As the sun shone after two days of heavy rain, helicopters, trucks and donkeys raced to reach Himalayan villages cut off for nine days.
“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 UN coordination chief in Pakistani Kashmir’s ravaged capital of Muzaffarabad.
“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.
Maj. Farooq Nasir, the army spokesman in Muzaffarabad, said the clear skies would permit around 80 air sorties a day, one of the highest since the 7.6 Richter-scale earthquake tore apart entire villages on Oct. 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 northwest of Muzaffarabad, received its first trucks yesterday from the UN World Food Program bringing in badly needed wheat and beans for 700 people. Aid workers warned that exposure and infection could trigger a second wave of deaths atop the 54,000 estimated killed on both sides of Kashmir and in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province.
“It’s the injured who most urgently need help,” said Bill Berger, leader of the USAID disaster assistance response team. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said more than 80,000 people were injured in the earthquake, and relief officials say many people who were seriously hurt by falling debris remain cut off in the isolated mountains of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, where most of the destruction happened.
Still there were incredible stories of survival, like that of 8-year-old Abdul Jabbar who was spotted by a Pakistani helicopter in the village of Jarid among the rubble of his aunt’s house. He had been visiting his aunt and her family, all of whom were killed, and it was unclear how he managed to survive so long on his own.
He was picked up by the military and flown to safety in his home village of Haripur, where he was reunited safely with his family.
Helicopters have ferried thousands to hospitals in Pakistani cities.
Relief groups say thousands of survivors face hypothermia, diarrhea and other diseases unless they immediately get bedding and shelter. But Pakistan has said it cannot guarantee that all the homeless will have tents.
In the village of Kanur, 60 km north of Muzaffarabad, survivors standing on the rubble of their homes waved colored clothes to attract the attention of a military helicopter flying through the mountains, then begged its crew to take on board injured villagers.
“Please take my daughter! Please take my daughter!” pleaded Tanvir Hussain, who lost two sons, two daughters and his wife in the disaster. His remaining daughter, 6-year-old Razila, suffered two fractured legs.
Razila, crying in pain, was among six badly hurt girls and women who boarded the helicopter and were shifted to a makeshift hospital in Muzaffarabad. About 30 other seriously injured people were left behind.
At the helicopter’s next stop, Kel Garam, a village where 250 died in the quake, villagers had fashioned a helipad in a clearing in hopes that a chopper would bring supplies. Soldiers handed out relief goods, including blankets and food — but no tents.
— Additional input from agencies
