Incessant rains and meters of snow in some earthquake-hit regions are continuing to pile misery upon tens of thousands of people in northern Pakistan and Kashmir.
Recent reports from Peer Chenassi, Bagh and Neelum Valley in Kashmir and Kaghan and Balakot in northern Pakistan said the areas were in the grip of severe cold as rains that began on the eve of the New Year turned into snow, particularly in regions above 1,524m altitude.
The inclement weather not only triggered several landslides in high-altitude mountainous villages, but also forced the suspension of relief operations from road and air. Even large US Chinook helicopters were unable to fly into the foggy and heavily overcast areas.
At least three people, including two girls, died of cold in tent villages set up east of Islamabad for internally displaced Kashmiris, while another two breathed their last in Bagh city, where even the city administration's tents collapsed under the burden of the overnight snow.
The Oct. 8 earthquake killed some 75,000 people and left 3.5 million others homeless, the bulk of whom are living in tents not suitable for harsh winters. The quake struck a 30,000km2 area in the Himalayan and Karakorum mountains.
UN deputy humanitarian coordinator Larry Hollingworth said all roads and links to villages above 5,000 feet (1,524m) had been cut off due to rain and snowfall.
"At the moment, I have no idea what the situation is over there as we have no access to those areas," Hollingworth said from his base in Batagram, a small quake-affected town on the Karakorum Highway.
Hollingworth said continuous rains have also affected two tent villages accommodating at least 7,000 people in Batagram, and that the situation could worsen if the rains and the cold spell continues.
Temperatures in these areas dip down to minus 10oC in December and January, and more rains could turn the relief operations into a nightmare for the government and private relief organizations.
Under its Winter Race program, the UN and foreign relief organizations have been rushing in materials for temporary shelters, but they are inadequate to look after all the quake victims in the area.
"I am still not sure that 100 percent of people living above 5,000 feet have got those temporary shelters," the UN official said.
The charity group Kashmir International Relief Fund said about 100 children have already died in Muzaffarabad, the devastated capital of Pakistani Kashmir, and its Bagh district.
"We had predicted this," the relief fund's Ishfaq Ahmed said, describing the deaths in the absence of insulated tents.
The International Organization for Migration says that at least 1.9 million tents need to be prepared for winter conditions for those living above 1,524m.
As many as three-quarters of the tents that were distributed in the aftermath of the quake are not suitable for such severe winter conditions, the migration organization warned in November.
The UN has so far received less than half of the US$550 million it had appealed for.
It still requires about US$45 million for urgent relief goods such as blankets and winter shelters.
James Morris, the head of the World Food Program, also complained about the slow and inadequate response to the immediate needs of disaster-stricken people.
"We had appealed for about US$100 million to provide air support for UN relief operations, but got about one-third funded so far," Morris was quoted as saying in the Pakistani Daily Times.
The weather promises no relief. The wet spell is due to continue for the next 36 hours in northern Pakistan and Kashmir, followed by more cold temperatures.
"Snowfall is expected to exceed the normal range both in terms of frequency of occurrence and amount, and with that the temperatures will also sink further," said Khan, a senior official with Pakistan's meteorological department.
Relief workers fear the latest cold wave could bring down more snow.
"The winter could be a bigger killer than the earthquake itself," Ahmed said.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under