December 4, 2002	Wednesday	Ramazan 28,1423

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GILGIT, Dec 3: The Speaker of the Northern Areas Legislative Council, Sahib Khan, has said that around 72,000 people of Astore valley may starve if the Astore-Gilgit road link is not restored immediately.

Talking to Dawn he said that the people in the Astore valley particularly those in the quake-affected areas were in miserable condition as the mercury had dropped six degrees below the freezing point on the Celsius scale.

He appreciated the efforts made by the army and civil administration for undertaking regular rescue operation in the quake-affected areas and appealed to NGOs and philanthropist to contribute to the relief activities.

Mr Khan said that due to the harsh weather people in the quake-hit areas were prone to pneumonia and other diseases due to the shortage of tents and medicines.

The personnel of the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) were busy, round the clock, to restore the road link, but the deep erosions caused by the recent quakes had prolonged the task.

The NALC speaker said that 3,500 people from the affected areas had been shifted to safer places by the army helicopters in Astore and some other areas in Gilgit and Jaglote.

“The road closure has caused an acute shortage of food, fuel and medicines in the area and if the situation persists for a longer period, all the limited stocks would finish within days,” he added.

The road between Astore and Gilgit was closed since Nov 21, 2002, and the area had lost land contact with other parts of the Northern Areas except.