PAKISTAN: Efforts shift to relief as quake death toll leaps

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

ISLAMABAD, 11 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - More than 72 hours after a powerful earthquake hit northern Pakistan and India, operations on the ground were shifting to providing relief aid to survivors, as the death toll shot up from an earlier estimate of 20,000.

Islamabad said on Tuesday the earthquake killed more than 33,000 people in Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. New Delhi has said at least 1,300 lost their lives in Indian-administered Kashmir as a result of the quake. But with thousands still trapped under rubble or located in isolated areas where help has not reached, the figure is expected to rise significantly.

"The priority of the last three days has been to recover as many people as we can, but now we need to concentrate on getting more and more relief rushing to the quake-hit north," Andrew Macleod, spokesman for the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team, said early on Tuesday in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

His comments came after Turkish search and rescue teams recovered 11 people alive from the rubble in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Another 40 children have been recovered from a school in the Balakot area of the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP).

The earthquake, which measured 7.6 on the Richter scale, wiped out towns and villages across northern Pakistan and in both Pakistani- and Indian-administered Kashmir. Worst hit were five districts near the Line of Control that divides Pakistani- and Indian-administered Kashmir. In the town of Muzaffarabad, an estimated 11,000 people died with many more still beneath rubble. Only 30 percent of buildings were left standing in the city of 600,000.

The main road to the city was opened on Monday and relief supply trucks began delivering water, food, medicine and tents. But news reports from the stricken city showed many communities complaining they had received no assistance after a third night in the open.

As aid was slowly reaching Muzaffarabad, the need in outlying areas was even more acute. "We still have a huge logistical problem. Small villages and outlining towns in the north are still inaccessible and the only way to get across them is by air. So we still need helicopters," Macleod maintained.

The Pakistani government has established a Federal Relief Commission to boost coordination of the massive relief operation. The decision was taken by President Gen Pervez Musharraf. The commission is expected to streamline relief operations in collaboration with the provincial government, relevant ministries, NGOs, the Red Crescent and other international agencies.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) began a major airlift of emergency relief supplies to quake-hit populations late on Monday. A WFP Ilyushin-76 carrying medical supplies and generators was due to take off from Brindisi, Italy for Peshawar, capital of stricken NWFP province on Tuesday morning.

Later on Tuesday a WFP-chartered Boeing 747 with a cargo of 80 mt of high-energy biscuits, fortified with vitamins and micro-nutrients was due to leave for Peshawar.

“It is vital to get to the survivors as soon as possible. They have already had two nights out in the open in the cold mountains,” said Jean-Jacques Graisse, WFP Senior Deputy Executive Director and Chief of Operations.

“They need shelter, medical assistance and also food, which they have no means to prepare – which is why the biscuits are so important,” Graisse said, adding that the agency was planning on providing ready-to-eat food for 1 million people for one month.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that several hospitals and health facilities had been completely destroyed and many health workers, including doctors and nurses, had died or been seriously injured. It is providing sufficient essential medicines and supplies to cover the needs of 210,000 people for a month as well as enough equipment for 1,000 surgeries.

“We need to coordinate a massive health relief effort to ensure people get urgent care and to prevent a bad situation from getting even worse,” WHO Representative for Health Action in Crises, Ala Alwan, said, noting mass measles vaccinations may be needed. “Medical supplies, water and sanitation supplies and cash donations will help the most.”

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