ISLAMABAD, 13 October 2005 — International aid in cash and kind continued to pour into Pakistan yesterday from all over the world as the authorities fought a valiant battle to cope with the after-effects of the country’s worst ever disaster.
Rescue efforts gave way to recovery, as hopes faded of finding any more survivors in Pakistan’s devastated quake zone. Still, miracles continued amid the misery, with a Russian team rescuing a 5-year-old girl trapped for nearly 100 hours in the rubble.
Trucks and helicopters with aid from dozens of countries choked the roads up to the crumbling towns of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
“No country is ready for such a disaster,” said President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in a nationally televised address, acknowledging initial delays in his government response but saying the relief operation is now in full swing. “It took eight to 12 hours to collect information. We did not have an exact estimate of what had happened.”
The 7.6-magnitude quake on Saturday demolished whole towns, mostly in the Himalayan region of Kashmir. The death toll was believed to be more than 35,000, and tens of thousands more were injured. Helicopter pilots ferried as many wounded as they could to hospitals.
“The problem we are seeing right now is that there’s so many injured Pakistanis, we just can’t take back everyone. We are limited for space,” US military spokesman Col. James Yonts said at a base near Islamabad. US, Pakistani, German and Afghan helicopters delivered tents, blankets and medical equipment, and brought back dozens of badly injured people on each return flight. The choppers flew in clear skies after stormy weather forced the suspension of flights on the previous day.
At a landing zone in Muzaffarabad, doctors selected the most severely injured for evacuation and held back those with less serious wounds.
On a regional tour, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Islamabad, where Pakistani leaders appealed for tents, water, blankets and clearing equipment from the United States.
“We will be with you in your hour of need. We will be with you not just today but also tomorrow,” she said at a news conference with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
Aziz said small aircraft were able to land at the airport in Muzaffarabad, but C-130 transport planes were still only able to airdrop equipment and supplies.
The United Nations estimated some 4 million people were affected, including 2 million who lost homes, and warned that measles and other diseases could break out. Some 50,000 Pakistani troops joined the relief effort.
At a camp for the homeless, an old man with a plastic bottle gave Zarabe tiny sips of water out of its cap, but she wasn’t satisfied and wanted more.
Some roads to the badly hit town of Bagh, southeast of Muzaffarabad, remained blocked because of quake-induced landslides. Dozens of bodies lay on the roadsides in the town, and residents said they were desperate for heavy machinery to help them remove debris in hopes of finding survivors.
“We need food, we need water, we need medicine,” said Abdul Qayyum, a schoolteacher who stood near the rubble of his school.
Jan Vandemoortele, UN Resident Coordinator for Pakistan, said key roads into the quake zone that were blocked earlier have now been opened up.
“Relief material is moving in,” Vandemoortele said in Islamabad. “It is getting there. Roads are open now. They were blocked until very recently. We have several trucks that are all loaded and on the road now.”
About 30 countries have sent relief equipment, doctors, paramedics, tents, blankets, medicine, and disaster relief teams. Many have pledged financial assistance, and Japan’s Defense Ministry said yesterday it would send about 290 troops and three helicopters.
— With input from agencies
