11 February 2005	Friday	01 Muharram 1426

PESHAWAR, Feb 10: With casualty figures mounting and hundreds of families rendered homeless by unprecedented week-long rains and snowfall, the Relief Commission said it had virtually nothing to provide solace to the marooned people.

Officials said the people in the snow-bound valleys of upper parts of the NWFP were facing shortage of food items and fuel were desperately awaiting government or any other humanitarian organisations' help, officials said.

To cope with the emerging situation, the administration in the Mansehra district had requested the Pakistan Red Crescent Society to send relief goods to assist affected families in the area, but there was no response from the society, officials said.

The NWFP Relief Commission is experiencing relief goods' shortage and unable to assist the people of the calamity-hit areas in the province, according to the officials.

Informed sources said the Pakistan Red Crescent Society was also unable to utilise the disaster response emergency fund to help the people in the area.

Investigations carried out by Dawnrevealed that the Relief Commission which would traditionally stockpile relief items to cope with flood situations in July, August and September had been caught unawares by the devastating rains and snowfall in the month of February.

The sources said the commission had virtually no money to provide relief to the people.

The commission has now requested the federal Emergency Relief Cell to provide tents and other essential goods to cope with the situation.

"There is a total apathy. We were never prepared for this kind of situation. This is horrible," a senior government official acknowledged.

He said the federal relief cell had helicopters for rescue and search operations but they seldom picked up phones and not ready to attend to emergency calls.

An official said that the provincial commission had only 36 tents, which were dispatched to Mansehra district on Thursday morning.

"The situation is very critical, but the commission is unable to assist affected families due to lack of resources," the official said.

The situation in the mountainous Chitral district is more critical where bed weather has disrupted relief operation.

Chitral district Nazim Shahzada Mohuiddin told Dawnthat about 2,400 people in Broghal and Yarkhun valleys were in dire of need of foodstuff but he had no means of transportation to assist the stranded families.

He said some 1,200 families in Broghal valley, at a height of about 12,000 feet, far away from Chitral town, had been desperately waiting for food for the last 20 days as the area had completely cut off from the rest of the country.

The authorities in Yarkhun valley, Chitral, informed the district government that 1,000 families needed food. Link roads in Garam Chashma have closed due to landslides.

"The district government has sufficient stock of food but has no means of transportation to dispatch food items to inhabitants of Broghal valley", the Nazim said.

He said that the district government had purchased about 85,000 kilograms of food items for inhabitants of Broghal valley, but could not dispatch ration due to road blockades caused by heavy snowfall and landslides.

He said the army helicopters could transport only 20,000 kilograms of food items to the area and the operation had to be suspended due to bad weather.

The remote Broghal valley is inhabited by about 1,200 families and it is situated on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on the narrow Wakhan strip.

Officials said that the small valley had received more than 13 feet of snow during the last few days.

The sources said that on the directive of President Gen Pervez Musharraf two helicopters of the Pakistan Army were despatched to Chitral a few days ago to transport foodstuff to the people of of Broghal valley.