EARTHQUAKE: SOUTH ASIA OCTOBER 2005: Pakistan and India Earthquake
Pakistan Quake Victims Scuffle for Aid Tuesday October 11, 2005 10:16 AM By SADAQAT JAN Associated Press Writer Guardian Unlimited <http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/ story/0,1280,-5335772,00.html> A shorter URL for the above link: <http://snipurl.com/idoz> MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Earthquake victims scuffled over badly needed food that arrived Tuesday in the first aid convoys to reach this devastated city. An army official said the government estimated that more than 35,000 people died, a stark assessment that almost doubled the official death toll. That toll remained at around 20,000 people, but a senior army official close to the rescue operations said government officials were estimating that between 35,000 and 40,000 died. The official asked not to be identified because he wasn't authorized to disclose the estimate to journalists. In the northern town of Balakot, a French team on Monday rescued at least five children buried in a collapsed school, Eric Supara, an official at the French embassy in Islamabad, said Tuesday. U.S. military helicopters, diverted from neighboring Afghanistan, helped ferry wounded people from the wrecked city of Muzaffarabad, while international rescue teams joined searches during the waning days of hope for finding survivors. About 10 trucks brought by Pakistani charities and volunteers rumbled into that city, where efforts by relief workers to distribute aid turned chaotic as residents scrambled for handouts of cooking oil, sugar, rice, blankets and tents. It was the first major influx of aid since the monster 7.6-magnitude quake struck Saturday morning, destroying most homes and all government buildings in this city, and leaving its 600,000 people without power or water. Most have spent three cold nights without shelter. ---------------------------------------- Looter: 'We are desperate, hungry' October 11, 2005 BY SADAQAT JAN Chicago Sun Times <http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-quake11.html> Masood-ur Rehman, an assistant city commissioner, said 90 percent of the city, and all its government and educational institutions, were destroyed. Relief efforts were hampered by l andslides. ''Bodies are scattered in the city,'' he said. ''Ninety percent of victims are still buried under the debris. We are helpless..'' In one neighborhood, shopkeepers scuffled with looters scavenging crushed stores. ''We haven't eaten anything for two or three days. The shops are closed and we haven't got anything from the government,'' said a 20-year-old man as he ferreted away stolen goods. ''We are desperate and hungry.'' ---------------------------------------- Quake death toll rises in India 11/10/2005 11:06 - (SA) News 24 <http://www.news24.com/News24/World/ Asian_Earthquake/0,,2-10-1957_1814856,00.html> A shorter URL for the above link: <http://snipurl.com/idpi> Srinagar - The earthquake death toll in Indian Kashmir rose above 1 100 people on Tuesday with more than 5 000 injured, a police emergency management officer told AFP. "The death toll from the devastating earthquake has passed 1 100," the officer said from a control room monitoring rescue operations. He said more than 5 000 people were injured in Indian Kashmir in the earthquake that shook South Asia on Saturday. ---------------------------------------- Hope of finding quake survivors fades http://www.chinaview.cn 2005-10-11 15:49:53 China View <http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/ 2005-10/11/content_3605332.htm> A shorter URL for the above link: http://snipurl.com/idpg BEIJING, Oct. 11 -- On the third day of a 7.6-magnitude earthquake that hit Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, hope was dwindling on Tuesday of finding more survivors. The official death toll remained at 21,000, although officials in Pakistan's part of Kashmir and North West Frontier Province, areas that bore the brunt of Saturday's quake, suggested it could be almost twice as high. ---------------------------------------- Pakistan Quake Survivors Leave Area by Foot in Absence of Aid Bloomberg UK Last Updated: October 11, 2005 03:24 EDT <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= 10000102&sid=a0IO_ofTiHdY&refer=uk> A shorter URL for the above link: <http://snipurl.com/idpm> Thirty-five helicopters were taking part in rescue operations, including eight U.S. helicopters, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told reporters late yesterday. Pakistan has received pledges totaling $100 million. Five UN agencies have mobilized to deliver food for 240,000 people and tents, kitchen sets and soap for 100,000. A consolidated appeal for aid during the next six months will be made later today. UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland was heading to the region. Japan, a country that regularly experiences earthquakes, will provide $20 million in aid and is considering sending helicopters to Pakistan to help after a request from President Pervez Musharraf, chief government spokesman Hiroyuki Hosoda said at a regular press conference today. At least three helicopters may be sent, Kyodo News reported earlier. India, which has fought three wars with Pakistan, where the earthquake struck, will send tents, plastic sheets, blankets, mattresses, food and a variety of medicines and medical supplies, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said in New Delhi yesterday. ---------------------------------------- 4 million facing homelessness after quake October 11 2005 at 12:28AM IOL South Africa <http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id= 3&art_id=vn20051011063456154C503788> A shorter URL for the above link: <http://snipurl.com/idpq> "They've lost everything: they have no clothes, no food, nothing," said resident Asim Butt. The oil-rich United Arab Emirates last night announced a $100-million (about R650-million) aid package to provide emergency relief assistance and to build houses for the victims of the quake in Pakistan. The US military in neighbouring Afghanistan said it was diverting eight helicopters being used in the war against Islamic militants to assist with emergency operations. Aid agencies said more than 120 000 people were in urgent need of shelter and up to four million could be left homeless by what was South Asia's strongest quake in a century. "We know that every hour counts in an earthquake of this magnitude," said UN emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland. ---------------------------------------- NATIONAL POST Latest News Pakistanis huddle against cold waiting for quake aid to reach remote areas Sadaqat Jan Canadian Press Tuesday, October 11, 2005 <http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html? id=87432cea-1631-47b4-a2d2-d166b9447657> A shorter URL for the above link: <http://snipurl.com/idpv> More than two days after the magnitude-7.6 quake, survivors were pulled from under piles of concrete, steel and wood in the mountainous swath touching Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. A man was rescued from a pancaked two-storey house in Muzaffarabad, two girls were plucked from a collapsed school in Balakot, and a woman and child were pulled from an apartment building in Islamabad. Injured people were airlifted from remote areas, and Pakistan's army distributed rice to starving survivors. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said his government was doing its best to respond to the crisis. He had appealed for international help, particularly cargo helicopters to reach remote areas cut off by landslides. "We are doing whatever is humanly possible," Musharraf said. "There should not be any blame game. We are trying to reach all those areas where people need our help." Canada committed $20 million in aid Monday, following on the heels of $300,000 promised earlier. Some of the money will go to dispatching Afghanistan-based Canadian Forces aircraft loaded with blankets to the affected area. ---------------------------------------- Oct. 10, 2005, 7:56PM SWORDS INTO SHOVELS Pakistan's acceptance of aid from India after earthquake could clear place for peace Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle <http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/3390531> When disasters hit remote, impoverished regions such as Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, the news often worsens with each day. Death tolls rise: Estimates have soared to 30,000 in Pakistan alone. More survivors die beneath rubble, or from cold, disease or injury. And the dead gain heartbreaking faces and names. In Pakistan, the greatest number of casualties are now revealed to have been children. In the areas worst hit by the earthquake, a whole generation was extinguished, Pakistan's military spokesman told AFP news agency. <snip> After mulling India's offer of relief, Pakistani officials said Monday they would accept aid for Kashmir. According to India's foreign secretary, the country will send 25 tons of food, tents and medicine to Pakistan today. Pakistan declined India's offer of helicopters, which can be used for surveillance a nd could have made tensions worse. That India's donation might ease frictions amounts to more than wishful thinking. After the tsunami that took 250,000 lives, many of them in Indonesia, separatist rebels in the province of Aceh began talks leading to a cease-fire that endures today. Similarly, two 1999 earthquakes in Greece and Turkey led to mutual outpourings of aid between the hostile nations. Relations thawed to such a point that Greece supported Turkey's candidacy to the European Union, and the two nations' prime ministers inaugurated a joint natural gas pipeline in 2005. No gift of relief supplies can erase the territorial and ideological tensions between India and Pakistan. But the aid transaction can create an atmosphere of good will that smooths diplomacy. ---------------------------------------- The complete articles may be read at the URLs provided for each. 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