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Rush to set up shelters in Pakistan

Pakistani Kashmiri earthquake survivors sit in a makeshift shelter in Balakot on Sunday. This Saturday's donors' conference in Islamabad will set the tone for reconstruction, as Pakistan has received aid pledges of US$2.4 billion to help relief and reconstruction efforts following the worst natural disaster in the country's history on Oct. 8. PHOTO: AFP

NATO forces were setting up winter shelters high in the mountains of Pakistan's earthquake zone yesterday, as doctors rushed to immunize children against measles and other diseases before snows cut off remote areas.

Working with Pakistan's army, NATO teams planned to operate at altitudes above 1,500m for as long as weather allowed, NATO said in a statement.

The wood and metal shelters are designed to provide better protection from the harsh Himalayan winter than the tents now being distributed.

"We are sending these teams up the mountains to reach those most vulnerable to the bitter winter weather rapidly descending there," the commander of the NATO relief team, Air Commodore Andrew Walton, was quoted as saying.

More than 86,000 people died in the 7.6-magnitude temblor that struck Oct. 8. Hundreds of thousands remain without shelter as overnight temperatures begin to drop toward freezing.

Weather was clear and sunny yesterday in Muzaffarabad, near the quake's epicenter, but snow has already begun falling on mountain villages higher up.

Four NATO helicopters are flying alongside those from the US, Britain and international aid agencies as part of an air bridge carrying food, shelter and medical aid to quake survivors in remote areas.

India and Pakistani opened a fourth point along their heavily militarized Kashmiri frontier for exchanges of aid materials, but there was still no word on when a much-heralded agreement to allow reunions between divided families would take effect.

Both side agreed to the breakthrough exchanges last month, but India is concerned that Muslim militants fighting New Delhi's rule in Indian-controlled Kashmir may try to mix among those crossing.

Further worrying emergency workers, at least 21 people died in a pair of bus crashes in the quake zone on Sunday. Police said the accidents were still under investigation, but that frequently overcrowded and poorly maintained vehicles have been speeding and carrying more passengers than usual to take advantage of increased demand.

Many roads in the Muzaffarabad area were blocked by landslides sparked by the quake or simply disappeared over the sides of cliffs, making land travel in the area extremely dangerous.

Illnesses

Meanwhile, UN and Pakistani teams over the weekend launched a crash campaign to vaccinate about 1.2 million children under age 15 in remote parts of the quake area against measles, diphtheria, polio and other illnesses.

However, Edward Hoekstra, a senior health adviser for UNICEF who was overseeing the program, said another US$4 million was needed to complete the program over the next 2-3 weeks.

Without that, "we will not be able to complete the whole activity, which means large numbers of vulnerable children will remain unprotected," Hoekstra told reporters during a visit yesterday to villages on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad.

Relief officials are to gather in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, starting on Friday to discuss long-term reconstruction needs. The UN says it needs US$550 million in emergency aid for quake victims, but donors have pledged only US$131 million.

Quake relief, compensation for lost livelihoods and reconstruction costs will total about US$5.2 billion, the Asian Development Bank and World Bank said in a report issued last week that will be used as a benchmark for the conference.

"Assistance is not now at a level that we expect," Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf said in an interview with CNN broadcast yesterday.

Also yesterday, the US State Department's top official for public diplomacy, Karen Hughes, was leading a delegation on a tour of the quake area in a bid to boost private and corporate giving for reconstruction.
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