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Bad weather adds to difficulties in quake relief effort

Bad weather and sudden rains hampered ongoing rescue operations in Pakistan's quake-hit areas yesterday, as thousands of stranded people desperately waited for relief and assistance.

"All helicopter flights to quake-hit areas have been suspended due to heavy rains," said an official at the Pakistan Air Force base in Rawalpindi, from where the choppers are operating.

The disruption in flights was certain to multiply the misery of the devastated people in the areas where land routes were blocked by landslides and broken roads.

"Accompanied by hailstorms, it [has been] raining since 1400 hours [2pm], making the relief efforts even more difficult," a reporter based in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, told the privately owned TV channel Geo.

Muzaffarabad is the worst hit area, where Saturday's 7.6 quake has so far claimed more than 12,000 lives, with 90 percent of the physical structures destroyed or damaged.

In another northern city, Abottabad, some 30km south of Muzaffarabad, rains flattened makeshift hospitals set up at the parking area of Ayub Medical Complex, which is already flooded with patients.

Meteorological officials have predicted intermittent rains during the next 48 hours in Muzaffarabad and in Bagh and Rawalakot districts of the Kashmir region.

"There will be more rains and after two days a cold wave will enter the region, making things more difficult for the people," Muhammad Hanif told reporters.

As the death toll from last Saturday's devastating earthquake continued to rise, Pakistani and foreign rescue teams launched a major relief and rescue operation yesterday morning, supported by over 35 helicopters from the Pakistani armed forces and the US.

Unofficial estimates put the fatalities at over 40,000, while officials at a control room set up by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz confirmed only 22,488 deaths in northern Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

"We have a figure of 22,488 fatalities and over 40,000 injuries," an official, who did not want to be identified, told reporters.

Chief military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said relief efforts have reached thousands of quake-affected people but thousands of others remain inaccessible.

"This is disaster of enormous scale and we have to understand that," Sultan said.

Sultan said the immediate priority for the government is to provide relief for people.

"To achieve this objective, Pakistan and US helicopters conducted 128 sorties with tonnes of relief goods," he added.

Eight US helicopters from Afghanistan's Bagram airbase have already joined relief operations while two German army helicopters also arrived in Islamabad yesterday afternoon.

The international community has so far pledged some US$100 million for relief and sent over 500 experts to assist in the rescue operations.

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South Asia Quake: Pakistan's medical facilities reeling under the impact
South Asia Quake: Risk of epidemic high in aftermath of disaster: MSF

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