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| October 9, 2005 | Sunday | Ramazan 4, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Earthquake death toll in Pakistani Kashmir estimated at 30,000: minister ISLAMABAD, Oct 9 (AFP) - An estimated 30,000 people were killed in Azad Kashmir by a massive earthquake, the AJK Minister for Works and Communication Tariq Farooq told AFP Sunday. "There are cities, there are towns which have been completely destroyed. Muzaffarabad is devastated," he added, Around 3,000 people were killed by the quake in Muzaffarabad. The worst hit place was Bagh, 40 kilometres southeast of Muzaffarabad, Farooq said. Between 6,000 and 7,000 people are estimated to have died in the town and adjoining areas, Farooq said. "There are no survivors in villages like Jaglari, Kufalgarh, Harigal and Baniyali in Bagh district," Farooq said. "People have been devoured by the earth." Pakistan's Minister For Kashmir Affairs, Faisal Hayat, said that half of Kashmir has been "severely affected by the earthquake". "Out of the total population more than half is affected," apparently referring to those displaced, injured or killed. (Posted @ 13:15 PST)
Quake is 'biggest-ever disaster in Pakistan history': army ISLAMABAD, Oct 9 (AFP) - The devastating earthquake that struck large parts of South Asia on Saturday is the “biggest ever disaster in the history of Pakistan," with over 18,000 confirmed deaths and more than 41,000 injured, chief army spokesman Maj- Gen Shaukat Sultan said Sunday. Around 17,000 of the dead are in Azad Kashmir alone, he added. There were many areas that had not yet been reached so far, and the “death toll of 18,000 could be manifold more as we reach more areas”, he stated. "We have mobilised all our resources and we are making all-out efforts to reach out to the affected areas," he added. Officials meanwhile said a team of medical surgeons was being despatched to Azad Kashmir where many hospitals, including the main Combined Military Hospital in the capital Muzaffarabad, have been destroyed. "We are sending nine helicopters carrying relief goods to Kashmir," Kashmir Affairs Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told AFP. The devastation is colossal in Azad Kashmir where “more than 50 percent of the entire region has been affected and villages after villages have been wiped away," he said. Bad weather and the destruction of communications infrastructure had made things worse as it has severely affected the relief efforts, he added. (Posted @ 09:40 PST)
Quake kills 1,700 in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 8 (AFP) - The death toll from Saturday's massive earthquake has risen above 1,700 in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, the police chief told AFP late Saturday night. (Posted @ 10:30 PST)
Quake toll rises to more than 19,000 in Pakistan, 580 in India ISLAMABAD, Oct 9 (AFP) - Pakistan's interior ministry said Sunday that more than 19,000 people had died in a huge earthquake that shook parts of South Asia, while India raised its toll to 583. "So far we have 19,136 people lost their lives, 42,397 were injured. Casualties are increasing by the hour," Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told a news conference in Islamabad. Sherpao said the worst affected area was Occupied Kashmir, where the confirmed figures so far were 17,388 dead and 40,421 injured. Around 11,000 of the dead were in the region's capital Muzaffarabad alone, he said. In North West Frontier Province 1,760 people were killed and 1,797 injured he said, while in the central province of Punjab 11 were dead and 83 injured. In the Northern Areas bordering China and Azad Kashmir a further two people were killed and two injured. (Posted @ 22:05 PST)
US to send eight helicopters for Pakistan quake aid ISLAMABAD, Oct 9 (AFP) - The United States said Sunday it would send eight military helicopters to Pakistan after the quake-hit country appealed for more cargo choppers for relief efforts. "The US will provide additional assistance in the form of emergency supplies, the use of US military helicopters, and emergency management personnel," US ambassador to Islamabad Ryan Crocker said in a statement. (Posted @ 21:45 PST)
Jamaat sets up Rs. 175m relief fund for quake victims LAHORE Oct 09-(PPI): Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan has set up Rs 175 million Relief Fund for the earthquake victims across Pakistan. Thirty truck-loads of food items, medicines, blankets, clothes and tents have been dispatched from Karachi while five trucks carrying identical relief goods load left Lahore for NWFP and AJK to meet the emergency needs of quake-hit people in these areas. (Posted @ 21:40 PST)
ADB announces $10 million emergency assistance for earthquake rehabilitation ISLAMABAD, Oct 9 (APP): The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has, in consultation with Government committed approximately US $10 million in immediate assistance for rehabilitation work in the worst earthquake-affected areas and districts in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and North West Frontier Province. According to a ADB statement issued here Sunday, (Posted @ 16:20 PST)
Quake death toll rises to 583 in Occupied Kashmir: official SRINAGAR, Oct 9 (AFP) - The confirmed earthquake death toll climbed to 583 in Occupied Kashmir on Sunday, an official said.warning the figure would probably rise further.’He said 300 had dead in Uri sector alone, (Posted @ 16:15 PST)
19 killed, 85 injured in Margalla Tower collapse: DC ISLAMABAD, Oct 9 (APP): At least 19 persons were found dead and 85 others injured from the rubble of the 10-storey apartment building that collapsed in the 7.6-magnitude earthquake on Saturday. Deputy Commissioner Islamabad, Ch. Muhammad Ali told APP that more than 24 hours after a devastating quake, the rescue operation is still underway and it appeared that more than 50 persons are still trapped under the debris of the collapsed building. On Sunday, rescuers pulled a woman and a boy out alive from the debris and both are stated to be in stable condition. (Posted @ 16:10 PST)
Blasts wound nine in Bangladesh DHAKA, Oct 9 (AFP) - At least nine ruling party members were injured in two bomb attacks in southwestern Bangladesh, police said Sunday, ruling out Islamic hardline groups blamed for a recent series of explosions. Seven youth wing members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party were hospitalised when a home-made bomb was hurled outside the party office in Keshobpur, additional superintendent of police Nuruzzaman Bhuiyan told AFP. He said nobody claimed responsibility for the attacks late Saturday but two men were arrested in connection with the violence. (Posted @ 16:20 PST)
China sends rescue team to quake-hit Pakistan BEIJING, Oct 9 (AFP) - A Chinese rescue team was sent Sunday to quake-devastated Pakistan with search dogs and 17 tons of equipment, state media said. The 49-member team, headed by deputy director of the China Seismological Bureau Zhao Heping, also includes rescue personnel, medical staff and seismological experts, Xinhua news agency said. The team is taking with it six search dogs, eight tons of search equipment and nine tons of relief materials, Xinhua said. (Posted @ 13:20 PST)
Car bomb kills child in Iraq's Basra BASRA, Iraq, Oct 9 (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded outside a building housing members of a Shi'ite militia associated with the Iraqi government on Sunday, killing a child, police and witnesses said. The early morning blast also wounded one person in the outhern city of Basra, the witnesses said. The explosion damaged a building housing members of the Badr movement, which is linked to one of the main Shi'ite parties in the U.S.-backed-government. (Posted @ 13:20 PST)
20 dead, 17 injured in bus crash in eastern China BEIJING, Oct 9 (AFP) - Twenty people were killed and 17 others injured when a taxi collided with a bus in eastern China's Zhejiang province, forcing the bus off a bridge and into a river, state press said Sunday. The accident occurred late Saturday on the Jiujiu bridge in Huzhou city, Xinhua news agency said. Two people who were riding on the bus are still missing and feared dead, the report said. Three of the injured were riding in the taxi cab, while 20 bus passengers were killed in the incident. (Posted @ 13:15ST)
Watson wants to be Australia's Flintoff MELBOURNE, Australia, Oct 9 (AFP) - Shane Watson wants to become the Andrew Flintoff of Australian cricket and on Sunday he laid down a considerable downpayment with a stellar man-of-the-match performance in Australia's thumping 156-run Super Series win over the World XI. Watson picked up his second man-of-the-match award in the three-match tournament after scoring an unbeaten run-a-ball 66 here Sunday and taking 4-39 off 7.5 overs to put the skids under the world all-stars. (Posted @ 16:30 PST)
U.N. sends emergency team to Pakistan UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 9 (APP): An eight-member team from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs was due in Islamabad on Sunday to help set up a center for coordinating the UN's emergency response.The international Red Cross said it also was preparing an emergency response. (Posted @ 12:05 PST)
Canada providing $300,000 for relief of Pakistani quake victims OTTAWA, Oct 9 (APP) The Canadian government has promised at least $300,000 for immediate aid to areas in Pakistan devastated by Saturday's huge earthquake, which also impacted Afghanistan and India. Prime Minister Paul Martin pledged $100,000 to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for an early-needs assessment, with an additional $200,000to the Canadian High Commission in Pakistan to respond to urgent requirements (Posted @ 12:00 PST)
Southern Afghanistan: Suicide car bomber wounds four Britons KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Oct 9 (APP/AP) _ A suicide attacker rammed a car laden with explosives into a vehicle carrying Britons in Kandahar city on Sunday, wounding four of them, said Col. Steve Bowes, a Canadian commander with the coalition. The four were travelling in a four-wheel drive when the suicide bomber attacked them, Bowes said. Two of the Britons were in serious conditions, while the other two were lightly wounded, Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid said. He said the four were civilians were working on a customs project in Kandahar. (Posted @ 11:55 PST)
Rescuers find survivors in Pakistani flats ISLAMABAD, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Rescuers early Sunday morning found at least two more survivors clinging to life in the ruins of an apartment complex in the Pakistani capital. A boy was pulled out alive some 24 hours after the quake hit, prompting cheers from rescue workers who said others were still alive under the rubble. A medical officer at the scene, Faisal Kakar, said a woman had also been found alive. "She said 'help me, I'm all right and there are three or four people with me'," Kakar told Reuters. A short time earlier, another rescue worker said a man was found alive. He had asked for juice as workers fought to free him. A woman was rescued overnight but her hand had to be amputated to pull her free while a man who was saved had his leg amputated, a military official involved in the rescue effort said. (Posted @ 11:50 PST)
Soccer-20 teams through to 2006 World Cup finals LONDON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Following the completion of Saturday's World Cup qualifiers in Europe and Africa, the following 20 countries have now qualified for the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. EUROPE( Germany -hosts, Ukraine, Netherlands, England, Poland, Italy, Portugal); AFRICA(Angola, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Tunisia}; SOUTH AMERICA (Argentina, Brazil}; ASIA (Japan, Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia}; and CONCACAF ( Mexico, United States} (Posted @ 10:55 PST)
Armed Palestinian killed by Israeli army in West Bank NABLUS, West Bank, Oct 9 (AFP) - An armed Palestinian man was killed early on Sunday in a shootout with the Israeli army in the northern West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli security sources said. (Posted @ 10:10 PST)
British rescue team heading to quake-stricken south Asia LONDON, Oct 9 (AFP) - The first flight of British emergency workers and aid late Satureday left London Heathrow Airport and a second flight left from Nottingham East Midlands Airport for Pakistan Air Force base Chaklala in Islamabad to join earthquake relief operations. Firefighter Chris Pritchard was due to be on the second flight, to provide expert advice to a search and rescue dog team from the Lincolnshire force. "He is a very experienced dog handler having previously been deployed in similar situations in Peru, Columbia, Algeria and Thailand," said a Fire Service Inspectorate spokesman. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Britain was sending an initial allocation of 100,000 pounds (145,000 euros, 176,000 dollars) in Pakistani rupees. "The despatch of up to 60 British staff of all kinds is an initial despatch," he said Saturday. British Muslim charities have already pledged hundreds of thousands of pounds (euros, dollars) in aid. (Posted @ 10:05 PST)
Japan Open tennis - Day 7 results TOKYO, Oct 9 (AFP) –In the 860,000-dollar Japan Open tennis tournament here Sunday Nicole Vaidisova defeated Tatiana Golovin 7-6 (7/4), 3-2 (retired due to toe injury)in the women’s singles final. (Posted @ 10:00 PST)
Polling stations open for Polish presidential first round vote WARSAW, Oct 9 (AFP) - Polling stations opened before sunrise Sunday in Poland for the first round of a presidential election, which is widely expected to cement the former communist country's decisive shift to the right. Some 30 million voters are eligible to choose a successor to outgoing President Aleksander Kwasniewski, a former communist who is barred by the constitution from running again, having already served two terms. Voter bureaus opened at 6:00 am (0400 GMT) and will close at 8:00 pm. (Posted @ 09:50 PST)
Tribal clashes leave 12 dead in India's northeast GUWAHATI, India, Oct 9 (AFP) - At least 12 people -- seven villagers and five separatists -- were killed and up to 150 houses torched by rival tribesmen in separate incidents overnight in India's restive northeast Assam's Karbi Anglong district, officials said Sunday. "Heavily armed militants raided the village and chopped off the heads of seven people with crude weapons," police official A. Das said. Police shot dead two Karbi tribal militants in another encounter in the area. In two more attacks Saturday, at least 130 houses were burnt down with the Karbi and the Dimasa's fighting each other in continuing ethnic clashes over land rights in the area. In adjoining Manipur state, army soldiers late Saturday killed three militants belonging to the outlawed People's Liberation Army (PLA) militants. (Posted @ 09:50 PST)
Australia provides aid for quake victims SYDNEY, Oct 9 (AFP) - Australia said Sunday it had provided 500,000 dollars (380,000 US dollars) for immediate medical and relief assistance for victims of the South Asian earthquake. The funds will be channelled through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said foreign affairs parliamentary secretary Bruce Billson. (Posted @ 09:45 PST)
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