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Pakistani quake victims `at risk'

Authorities were sending tents, blankets and food yesterday to a remote northern area of Pakistan, a day after two strong earthquakes triggered landslides and toppled walls that killed at least 18 people and injured about 30 others, officials said.

At least one person was reported missing. Rescue crews were trying to reach the area in the rugged Hindu Kush mountain range, which is covered by a thick blanket of snow.

The temblors, measuring 5.7 and 5.5, were about 90 minutes apart on Saturday, with the first striking at 3:30pm They were centered about 150km northwest of Islamabad, and were strong enough to be felt in the capital.

Several small aftershocks were reported late Saturday and early yesterday in the area. An official in Peshawar, where Pakistan's earthquake monitoring center is located, said the aftershocks were of very low intensity and felt only locally.

Yesterday, a government official in Mansehra, one of the two districts reported worst hit in the quake, said relief supplies were being sent to remote parts of the district, where people in some areas were braving extremely cold temperatures.

"We are sending tents to the area. We are also making arrangement for quilts," said Hussainzada Khan, a senior relief official in Mansehra.

A state-run relief department will send 200 tents for the quake victims and Edhi Foundation, Pakistan's main privately-run emergency relief agency, has also promised to donate some tents, Khan said.

At least 250 homes have been reported damaged with some posing a further risk of collapse.

Authorities have sent doctors and police teams to remote villages to provide relief and assess damage, said Syed Ahmed Hussain, the mayor of Mansehra district.

"We have information that people have been buried by debris in some areas," he said. "People in some areas are sitting outdoors in snow. They fear going back to their homes."

Most of those killed died when the pickup truck they were riding in was struck by a boulder loosened by Saturday's second tremor, sending the vehicle into a river in the Batgram district, neighboring Mansehra, said Adam Khan, a local police official.

Thirteen bodies were recovered Saturday. Police and rescue teams said yesterday they feared more bodies might be found at the wreckage site.

Landslides had blocked the main road in Batgram, hindering rescue efforts. In the village of Shamlai, a falling wall struck and killed a 10-year-old boy, Khan said.

In Jabori, a village in the neighboring district of Mansehra, a man died when his roof collapsed, said local police official Hayyat Khan. The minaret of a mosque was destroyed.

Two other deaths were reported in Mansehra -- a 6-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy whose homes collapsed. A 4-year-old boy was reported missing in the same area, feared trapped under the debris of his home, Khan said.

One other boy was reported killed yesterday in Mansehra district. But Hussainzada Khan, the district administration official in Mansehra, gave no details about the circumstances of his death.

Two of the injured from the region -- a woman in a coma and another with a broken leg -- were brought to the Ayub Hospital in Abbotabad, the largest town in the quake zone.

"I was sitting in my house and all of a sudden I heard a thunderous sound and a great tremor," said Shakila Nasreen, a mother of nine who broke her leg as the roof caved in on her simple home.

Nasreen said she dragged herself out of the house and to safety. Her children were all at school at the time of the quake and were unharmed.

Hospitals were treating about 30 injured in all, officials said.

About 70 homes in Anghrai and another 40 homes in Paras villages were reported to have been seriously damaged, but the extent was not immediately known. The rest of the damaged homes were in surrounding areas. Most homes in the region are built of mud, stones and timber.

Officials said the full extent of the damage may not be known until rescue teams report from far flung areas.
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