Quake death toll tops 87 000

2005-11-08 16:41

Muzaffarabad - The estimated death toll in South Asia's earthquake jumped to more than 87 000 on Tuesday, the one-month anniversary of the disaster, as survivors prepared for the region's savage Himalayan winter.

The United Nations says its agencies needs more than $42m for crucial efforts this month to bring help for victims of the devastating October 8 quake centred in divided Kashmir. But UN officials in Pakistan said on Tuesday they were cautiously optimistic that a humanitarian catastrophe could be avoided.

"We are very anxious about when the snow falls," said quake survivor Hafiz Mohammed Aslam, a preacher in the village of Kotramaskhan in Pakistan's portion of Kashmir. "It will become a terrible situation, especially for the children."

The toll in Pakistan jumped to 86 000 - or 13 000 higher than the government's official toll so far - under a broad assessment by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, working with local governments and aid agencies, Pakistani finance ministry official Iqbal Ahmed Khan said on Tuesday.

Retrieving bodies

India has reported 1 350 deaths in its portion of divided Kashmir.

Khan said the new tally for Pakistan came after more bodies were pulled from debris and recovery teams reached areas previously blocked by landslides unleashed by the magnitude-7.6 quake and its hundreds of aftershocks.

The central Pakistani government's official death toll - still at 73 000 - typically has lagged behind other tallies, including those of local provincial governments in the quake-affected areas, whose most conservative estimates have added up to 79 000 for Pakistan for more than two weeks.

The UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said on Monday in New York that survivors could "freeze to death if they don't get assistance in weeks", while urging everyone from individuals to oil-rich nations to be as generous as they were with other recent natural disasters.

Shortage of funds

However, at a news conference on Tuesday in Islamabad, UN aid officials indicated that funding and the efforts of aid workers have begun to catch up with the needs.

"Perhaps for the first time since October 8 there is a sense of cautious optimism in the humanitarian community," said local UN emergency co-ordinator Jan Vandemoortele. "The job is colossal, but there is a feeling that this is a doable job. It is not mission impossible."

The UN officials made no mention of scaling back helicopter aid flights, as they had warned about doing in the past couple of weeks unless more funding came through.

The UN said it has received about $85m of the $550m it has asked for, with about $49m more pledged. More than $40m is needed right away just to get through November, the UN office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs said on Monday from Geneva.

Many people homeless

The quake destroyed the homes of more than three million people across Pakistan's North West Frontier Province and its portion of Kashmir, many of whom have moved into the many tent camps that have been set up in foothills of the Himalayas.

The UN has launched "Operation Winter Race" to shelter to about 200 000 people living at high altitudes above the snow line in the rugged Himalayas and about 150 000 expected to come down to tent camps at lower elevations.

Tents already pledged and in the pipeline should take care of those people, Egeland said.

- AP