|
| October 13, 2005 | Thursday | Ramazan 8, 1426 |
Death toll in Margalla Tower collapse rises to 42: DC Office ISLAMABAD, Oct 13 (APP): The death toll in the Margalla tower collapse rose to 42 as some more bodies were recovered from the debris on Thursday.(Posted @ 23:55 PST)
Tented villages to be set up in quake stricken areas:Cabinet ISLAMABAD, Oct 13 (APP): The federal cabinet on Thursday decided to set up tented villages to provide immediate housing for the earthquake affectees and to ensure provision of medical care and other facilities to them. In this connection due coordination between the government of AJK and NWFP will be undertaken by the chief relief commissioner of the federal government. The cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, also directed that damage assessment report should be given necessary priority so that steps for compensation and rehabilitation of the affectees can be undertaken quickly.(Posted @ 23:48 PST)
Death toll mounts to 11,531, 20,647 injured in NWFP: CMC Report PESHAWAR, Oct 13 (APP): The death toll was 11,531 and at least 20,647 people were injured in NWFP after Saturday’s earthquake, the Interior and Tribal Affairs department's Provincial Crisis Management Centre(CMC) report said on Thursday. As many as 6,641 people died and 10,926 were injured in Mansehra district alone while 3,850 were killed and 7,250 injured in district Batagram. Likewise in district Shangla, 30 persons died and 427 injured,515 died and 1730 injured in Abbottabad while 203 and 161 were injured in Kohistan. In Swat district at least seven people were killed and 69 injured; in Peshawar three persons were killed and nine injured; in Buner nine died and 20 injured, and in Mardan district one person breathed his last and 25 were injured. Similarly in Nowshera and Charsadda districts as many as 12 and 22 persons received critical wounds respectively.(Posted @ 20:25 PST)
South Asia quake more devastating than tsunami: WHO ISLAMABAD, Oct 13 (AFP) South Asia's earthquake was more devastating than last year's Indian Ocean tsunami in terms of the number of homeless and destruction to infrastructure, a UN official said Thursday. Hussein Gezairy, who heads the World Health Organization's Cairo-based regional office that covers Pakistan, said it would be "much, much more difficult" to reach quake victims in the Himalayas than the tsunami survivors. "In the tsunami 1.5 million people were made homeless, but in this case we expect more than 2.5 million to be homeless," he said. "For the 1.5 million people who were homeless something like 10 billion dollars were mobilised. I do not expect this to be happening in Pakistan, but I hope that people will give much more," he said.(Posted @ 19:58 PST)
Cross-Kashmir road repairs to take two months -India JAMMU, Oct 13 (Reuters) The Indian side of a 170-km highway that connects Srinagar to Muzaffarabad would take at least two months to be repaired after it was damaged in last week's killer earthquake, an Indian army general said on Thursday. "The four-km stretch between Jallas and Kaman Post is completely damaged," an Indian official told reporters. The Pakistani side of the highway is believed to have suffered more damage but it was not immediately known how long it would take to repair that stretch of the road. Besides the road, the so-called Peace Bridge across a Himalayan stream that marks the military ceasefire line between the two sides of Kashmir, was also damaged by the tremors, causing the bus service to be suspended indefinitely.(Posted @ 19:18 PST)
Pakistanis cut off by quake dismiss aid promise GHARIDUPATTA, Pakistan, Oct 13 (Reuters) A Reuters news team on Thursday trekked up the Jhelum valley, crossing six big landslides and passing numerous rock falls on a 10 km stretch of road to reach the small market town of Gharidupatta, 25 km east of Muzaffarabad. The town at first appears remarkably normal. While most shops are shut, several tiny stores are open. A chemist, a shop selling flour and one selling live chickens are doing business, selling stock the owners say they had before the quake. But a little further up the destruction was apparent and across the river most houses were completely levelled. About 300 people were killed, residents said. While army helicopters have evacuated most of the injured, residents said they have received no aid. Those with radios who heard a Wednesday night address by President Pervez Musharraf were dismissive. All said their most important need were tents, not food. “Musharraf must be joking because we haven't seen anything," said a local resident Abdul Majid. "We can accept aid can't come on the first day, or the second day, but now it's been six days," he added. Mohamad Shabir, carrying his cousin into Gharidupatta, said his village of Polote Bala had been destroyed. ”We don't even have a pot to drink water," he said.(Posted @ 18:40 PST)
UN emergency chief says "desperate situation" in Pakistan MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Oct 13 (AFP)Pakistan is in a "desperate situation" with survivors cut off beyond major towns five days after the disaster, UN relief chief Jan Egeland said after seeing the devastation. "This is a desperate situation. As you can see we are making progress in the more populated areas but it is so hard to reach the others," Egeland said. "We're still racing against the clock and we need to get more helicopters, more water, more tents and more money." Egeland rejected complaints that the response by UN and Pakistani agencies was too slow. "It is not slow. (In) the first three or four days there weren't even (open) roads here," Egeland said. "In the pipeline we have 10,000 tents and 100,000 blankets but it takes time to go to these areas." Asked if the South Asian earthquake was a unique disaster, he said: "It has never been worse." "The devastation is beyond belief," he added.(Posted @ 18:36 PST)
India to make second aid delivery to Pakistan NEW DELHI, Oct 13 (AFP) India is despatching a second consignment of relief supplies for the earthquake victims, the foreign ministry said Thursday. "The supplies total 82 tons which includes 5,000 blankets, 370 tents, five tons of plastic sheets and 12 tons of medicines," it said in a statement. "The supplies are being sent by a train leaving New Delhi tonight (Thursday) through Attari-Wagah route," it said, referring to the only rail link between the two countries. Earlier on Wednesday, an Indian air force Ilyushin-76 aircraft flew seven truck loads of army medicines, 15,000 blankets and 50 tents to Pakistan after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had offered Islamabad any help it required.(Posted @ 18:06 PST)
WFP to divert 65 trucks from Afghanistan to quake-hit Pakistan KABUL, Oct 13 (AFP) The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday that it will divert 65 trucks from its operation in Afghanistan to quake-hit neighbouring Pakistan, sending them across the border with tonnes of food and other aid. Forty of the trucks were to leave on Friday and 25 on Monday, a WFP spokesman said. WFP Afghanistan also agreed to loan its Pakistani operation 1,000 tonnes of wheat flour after it had already provided 40 tonnes of dates from Qatar, a statement said.(Posted @ 18:02 PST)
Pakistan's nuclear installations unharmed by earthquake Islamabad, Oct 13 PPI: Pakistan on Thursday categorically rejected media reports that said Saturday's earthquake damaged nuclear installations in the country. Talking to a private television channel, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Shaukat Sultan said the installations were ``robust and shockproof''. He explained that an earthquake or even a direct bomb attack cannot cause any harm to the nuclear installations.(Posted @ 17:48 PST)
Bulldozers move in as quake rescue teams face grim truth MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Oct 13 (AFP) The search for survivors was winding down Thursday five days after Pakistan's massive earthquake even though vast isolated stretches of the lower Himalayas remain cut off, officials said. Teams from Turkey and Britain gave up their search in Muzaffarabad as attention turned to bringing relief to desperate survivors. "The teams are leaving but the decision to announce the end will be taken by the government," said Alain Pasche, the UN search team coordinator. But many frantic residents refused to lose hope, with parents digging with their bare hands through the rubble of schools, hoping their children will not add to Pakistan's more than 25,000 earthquake dead. Russian and South Korean teams kept up their work here, while Spanish and Dutch teams were also refusing to give up at a collapsed school in nearby Bagh.(Posted @ 17:28 PST)
Yasin Malik vows to visit AJK from Monday Srinagar, Oct 13 (PPI) Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Yasin Malik, vowed to visit the earthquake affected areas of Azad Kashmir from Monday onwards. He told a news conference ”whenever we visit Azad Kashmir we receive tremendous love and affection from the people there…Therefore, it is obligatory on us to return back that love in the form of help in this time of grave crisis.” When asked if he had the visa for his proposed visit to Pakistan, Malik said he would talk to Pakistan's High Commissioner at New Delhi in this regard and expressed the hope that he would be allowed to visit Azad Kashmir.(Posted @ 17:22 PST)
Pakistan quake brings U.S., Iranian airmen together RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Oct 13 (Reuters) Old distrust was put aside at a Pakistani airfield on Thursday when U.S. airmen jumped in to help unload an Iranian military plane that flew in with a mobile hospital for victims of the earthquake. The Pakistani army at Rawalpindi's military air base was unable to get the very large vehicle off the Iranian plane and U.S. airmen didn't hesitate to help, regardless of the deteriorating ties between Tehran and Washington over Iran's nuclear programme. "They were working side by side. It's the end result that matters," a US army official present at the scene said. "It is help for Pakistan and not for the U.S. They (Americans) are aid workers and they help anybody. They don't differentiate between Pakistanis, Iranians and others," said an Iranian diplomat watching the plane's arrival.(Posted @ 17:22 PST)
India, Pakistan dispute claims of troop crossing over LoC after quake SRINAGAR, India, Oct 13 (AFP) The Indian army clarified on Thursday that their troops had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) to help Pakistani soldiers clear debris and not to rebuild a bunker, after Islamabad issued a strong denial. "Indian soldiers did not reconstruct any Pakistani Army bunkers," an Indian army spokesman said, adding they went over to give Pakistanis picks and shovels to clear debris from some pillars of a bridge. "Our soldiers responded to shouts of help from across the LoC," the spokesman said. "In no case scenario can Indian soldiers help in rebuilding enemy bunkers." Meanwhile Pakistan's military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan issued a strongly denial and said that "this is totally fabricated and there is no question of any Indian soldier crossing the LoC." Sultan added that "our fighting bunkers are completely intact because their construction is very robust.”(First Posted @ 12:35 Updated @ 16:48 PST)
Islamabad and other cities receive 67 aftershocks in the last 24 hours ISLAMABAD, Oct 13 (APP): Pakistan's seismic and weather experts recorded over 67 aftershocks in the last 24 hours till Thursday morning, two of which had magnitudes of more than 4 on the Richter scale. However no new damage was reported. Don Blakeman, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Centre said that the aftershocks can go on for months, and possibly years.(Posted @ 16:32 PST)
Confirmed quake toll in Pakistan rises to 25,000: military ISLAMABAD, Oct 13 (AFP) Pakistan on Thursday increased the official death toll figure from last week's massive earthquake to more than 25,000, with some 63,000 injured, chief military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said. Sultan said Muzaffarabad was the worst-hit area where the "maximum number of casualties have been reported." More than 11,000 people perished there, officials said. Thousands more died in Bagh and Rawalakot, and at least four big towns in North West Frontier Province. The spokesman added that the number of army casualties was 452 dead and some 730 injured.(Posted @ 16:10 PST)
Quake rumours spread panic in Pakistan ISLAMABAD, Oct 13 (AFP) - Thousands of Islamabad residents poured onto the streets Thursday amid rumours of an imminent earthquake less than a week after a devastating tremor north of the Pakistani capital, witnesses said. People ran out of schools, offices and their homes in the middle of the day after rumours that quickly spread over the telephone by anonymous callers. Fears began to subside and people trickled back indoors after seismologists went on local television repeatedly to dismiss the scare-mongering. The scare followed a jolt measuring 5.6 on the Richter Scale hours earlier in the middle of the night.Pakistan's seismological department said that, ironically, the smaller quakes were good news. "In fact the smaller jolts that have been coming and will continue for another two to three weeks means the faultline is losing energy which is a good sign indicating there is no possibility of a further big tremor," the head of the seismological office, Qamaruz Zaman, told AFP. It was not immediately known who was behind the scare.(Posted @ 13:45 PST)
Army, aid arrive too late, Pakistan survivors say BALAKOT, Pakistan, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The Pakistani army has arrived, relief goods are coming in, and the injured are getting medical attention now. But for surviving residents of Balakot all this has come too late . Most have already left to find shelter with relatives and friends in safer areas, including nearby Abbottabad. For those who remain, scars left by the disaster that flattened or damaged most homes, shops, schools and restaurants are so deep that they cannot have a good night's sleep . By day, Balakot is a picture of activity. Aid workers and volunteers distribute food, blankets and medical supplies and the army and foreign relief agencies clear the rubble of houses and shops with heavy machinery. At night, the town at the foot of the imposing Karakoram mountain range presents an eerie picture. Torchlight reveals narrow lanes winding through the remains of concrete houses. "On average, there are about two to three families with 10 to 15 persons sharing one tent -- most of them children or women; and just about a blanket or two”(Posted @ 13:40 PST)
Pakistan troops open path to quake villages MUZAFFARABAD, Oct 13 (AFP) – Troops today blasted open a key footpath to isolated mountain villages while locals used rafts to bring first- aid to areas cut off because a bridge had collapsed by the huge quake.Hundreds of people desperate to discover the fate of their families surged through after army engineers dynamited and bulldozed a landslide blocking the route out of Muzaffarabad. With brightly coloured sheets full of food and bottled water over their shoulders, they moved on up the treacherous path towards the Neelum Valley, where even helicopters have not been able to land since Saturday's disaster. All around Muzaffarabad whole mountainsides sloughed off during the quake, crushing villages and wrecking the only bridge to valleys in the immediate north of Muzaffarabad. Rafts began crossing the Neelum River for the first time Thursday, bringing the first consignment of water, milk and biscuits to survivors. "My two sons were martyred, but I trust in God and we have to survive," said Mohammed Yusuf, in his 50s, as he stood on the opposite bank and watched villagers negotiate the strong currents with long poles. "We are so hungry; many of us have not eaten for five days."(Posted @ 13:35 PST)
UN warns of disease outbreaks in quake regions ISLAMABAD, Oct 13 (AFP) - Outbreaks of measles, malaria and other diseases are likely in earthquake-devastated areas of Pakistan unless thousands of litres of clean water arrived urgently, the World Health Organisation said in a statement. It called for "a doubling or even tripling" of the number of doctors. The situation is "very worrying, given that the thousands of people who are gathered have no shelter and no safe water to drink," WHO's regional director Hussein Gezairy said after visiting Mansehra, one of the most devastated regions in northwestern Pakistan. Hundreds of thousands of survivors are camping in the open in wet and cold conditions, Gezairy said adding that basic items such as blankets were still urgently needed for survivors, many of whom have broken limbs, open wounds and head and spinal injuries. The WHO is sending a list of supplies, such as anaesthetics, antibiotics and basic bandages, to donor countries. About 26 hospitals, including three specializing in tuberculosis, were destroyed in the earthquake or were too damaged to remain open safely. Most of the 600 health clinics in the worst-affected areas were also destroyed, another WHO report said. With survivors continuing to crowd together in open areas or make-shift camps with poor water and sanitation, outbreaks of diarrhoea, pneumonia and infectious diseases are possible, it warned. A measles vaccination campaign for everyone aged under 15 is underway, the WHO said adding that a disease surveillance system has been set-up in the worst affected areas. The WHO has also sent 10 000 emergency health kits, enough to help 210,000 people for one month and enough surgical kits for 1000 operations. It was also sending trucks with medical supplies, generators and fuel to run health facilities. (Posted @ 11:46 PST)
Villagers flood into quake-hit Balakot BALAKOT, Pakistan, Oct 13 (AFP) - Villagers were Thursday pouring into this devastated city in search of aid as they fled the mountains where communities were razed to the ground by Saturday's earthquake. Hundreds of thousands of villagers from adjoining areas, the exact number impossible to verify because of the chaotic conditions here, have already arrived. "No search team came to our village. Most people have fled and there are only the injured left. Nothing came by helicopter either," said Zaman, 28, who said he came from "the other side of the mountain" in the village of Bahngia. Most displaced people on the bridge leading to Balakot recount the same sense of abandonment. But more aid was flying in Thursday as the overwhelmed Pakistani army was assisted by US and other foreign helicopters.(Posted @ 11:30 PST)
| All Branches of The State Bank of Pakistan |
| All Treasuries |
| All Branches of National Bank of Pakistan |
| All Branches of Habib Hank of Pakistan |
| All Branches of United Bank of Pakistan |
| All Branches of Muslim Commercial Bank of Pakistan |
| All Branches of Allied Bank of Pakistan |
| All Branches of Bank Al Falah and |
| All other scheduled Banks within Pakistan |
Donations, both from domestic and international donors can be deposited in the above branches of the Banks. Donations from abroad can be deposited at all the branches of above banks in foreign countries where such branches exist.
In other foreign countries where these branches do not exist donations will be recevied by the Pakistan Missions and remitted to the State Bank of Pakistan.
All proceeds recevied in the name of the Fund will be credited to the public account of the Federal Government under following Head of Account:-
| "G 12 Special Deposit Fund |
| G 121 - Relief Funds |
| G 12130 " President's Relief Fund for Earthquake Victims-2005" |
Further information and details can be obtained from the
following telephone and fax numbers:-
Phone No : 051-9208100, 051-9202528,
Fax No : 051-9207635
Important Emergency Numbers in Pakistan
Prime Minister House Earthquake Relief Cell: 051-9213891, 051-9222666.
President's Relief Fund for Earthquake Victims-2005: 051-9208100, 051-9202528, Fax: 051-9207635
Disaster Relief Cell, PM Secretariat: 051-920-6111
Crisis Managment Cell, Commander 111 Brigade, Rawalpindi: 051-926-7596
Foreign Office Emergency Coordination Centre Phone: 051-920-7663, Fax: 051-922-4205, 051-922-4206
President's Relief Fund for Earthquake Victims-2005: 051-9208100, 051-9202528, Fax: 051-9207635
Disaster Relief Cell, PM Secretariat: 051-920-6111
Crisis Managment Cell, Commander 111 Brigade, Rawalpindi: 051-926-7596
Foreign Office Emergency Coordination Centre Phone: 051-920-7663, Fax: 051-922-4205, 051-922-4206
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
Editor: Tahir Mirza
The DAWN Group of Newspapers
Haroon House, Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Karachi 74200, Pakistan.
Phone:+92 (21) 111-444-777 Fax: +92 (21) 569-3995
webmaster@dawn.com
Make sure to reload these pages so you're viewing the current version.
|
|
|
Contributions |