Winter lashes quake survivors

2005-11-28 15:46

Muzaffarabad - The onset of winter claimed the lives of at least two earthquake survivors on Monday - the first confirmed victims of what officials fear will be a new disaster for the 3.5 million Pakistanis who lost their homes last month.

With heavy rain and snow lashing Pakistan's part of disputed Kashmir, more than 100 people were brought to hospitals with hypothermia and respiratory diseases.

The bad weather also blocked roads and grounded helicopters as troops raced against the approaching Himalayan winter to ferry aid to remote areas devastated by the October 8 earthquake that killed more than 87 000 people.

The troops relied on vehicles where possible, and mules in other places.

Snow triggered landslides

Three-month-old Waqar Mukhtar died of pneumonia hours after he was brought in from nearby Neelum Valley, said Abdul Hamid, a doctor at a hospital in the regional capital, Muzaffarabad. In the town of Bagh, a middle-aged man died a day after he was brought in with hypothermia, said Lieutenant Colonel Johan De Graaf, senior medical officer at the Nato field hospital.

"If we don't get people into shelters, they will die. It's as simple as that," said Air Commodore Andrew Walton, commander of the Nato disaster response team in Pakistan. "That's the second disaster that's waiting to happen if we in the international community don't do something about it."

Walton said it was critical to get more shelter materials and mobile medical teams quickly to high-altitude areas where the weather is worst. Mountaintops in the area have a fresh covering of snow.

Hospitals throughout the quake zone each reported dozens of people, mostly children and the elderly, seeking treatment. The situation may be worse in remote areas, where landslides triggered by the precipitation have blocked main roads.

Major Farooq Nasir, spokesperson for the army, said troops halted traffic on the main Neelum Valley road "to avoid loss of life" after overnight rain and snow.

Nasir said no Pakistan army helicopters would fly in the quake zone on Monday because of clouds and rain. Troops used land vehicles and mules to haul supplies to the needy.

The heavy rains created a near-quagmire in the town of Arje at the camp for a Nato engineering battalion working to clear roads, repair schools and hospitals, and get aid to quake survivors at high altitudes.

- AP