Conditions are desperate now. Bridges shattered, roads covered with landslides makes it really difficult to get aid to the survivors. Helicopters will probably remain the only viable means for getting aid to the victims.
Quake victims scramble for aid
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-10-11-pakistan-quake-aid_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA
By Zafar M. Sheikh and Paul Wiseman, USA TODAY
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan — Desperate earthquake victims looted relief supplies Tuesday as aid shipments, hampered by bad weather, trickled into this devastated city.
Officials in Muzaffarabad carry an injured child to a U.S. helicopter for medical attention Tuesday.
By K.M. Chaudary, AP
The smell of death hung over Muzaffarabad, capital of the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir, where hundreds were entombed in rubble after Saturday’s magnitude-7.6 quake.
Pakistan’s official death toll reached 23,000, but the U.S. Agency for International Development reported 33,180 dead. Indian army spokesman J.S. Juneja said India’s death toll had risen to 1,460 after the discovery of 60 road workers whose bus was buried in a landslide.
The relentless rain lashing the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday made already-desperate conditions even more difficult. “We need tents, blankets, food, water,” said Taslim Jan, 55, a resident of Jhabla, a village near Srinagar, capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. Jan and 11 other women and children have been sleeping under a 6-foot-by-3-foot corrugated roof propped up by sticks. (Related story: Pulverized villages wait for aid)
Muzaffarabad, a city of 600,000, was in a state of near-anarchy on its fourth day with no electricity, running water or functioning government. About 10 trucks were overwhelmed as residents scuffled for handouts. More than 200 people raided a stock of food at a soccer field.
“I can’t wait for the food to be distributed properly,” Ali Khan, a construction worker who had barely eaten for days, told the Associated Press. “I need it desperately, and I’ll take it.”
The quake broke bridges and triggered landslides that blocked roads — and delivery of aid. Bad weather delayed helicopter flights to some hard-hit areas. “We’ve had hailstorms,” said Cassandra Nelson, a spokeswoman for Mercy Corps, a U.S. aid group.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita said five CH-47 and three H-60 helicopters had been sent from Afghanistan and four more were en route. An additional 25 to 30 U.S. helicopters are likely to be sent in the next few days from Afghanistan, Bahrain and other countries in the region, he said.
Rescuers pulled a teenage boy from rubble in the northern Pakistani town of Balakot on Tuesday. A 55-year-old woman and her 75-year-old mother were rescued in Islamabad.
As the days pass, relief efforts will shift to providing tents, blankets and warm clothing. “The focus is now on the survivors,” Nelson said.
Contributing: Sheikh reported from Muzaffarabad; Wiseman reported from Hong Kong; Mannika Chopra contributed in Srinagar, India; wire reports.