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| October 21, 2005 | Friday | Ramazan 16, 1426 |
Musharraf blasts quake reconstruction aid MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Oct 21 (AFP) President Pervez Musharraf Friday lashed out at the world for pledging "inadequate" reconstruction aid after the massive South Asian quake, as the death toll climbed above 51,000. Musharraf was quoted by the BBC as saying that the international community's reconstruction pledges of around 620 million dollars were "totally inadequate" to meet the estimated five-billion-dollar cost of rebuilding. His spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan, said the president was only referring to the reconstruction aid, not the initial appeal for relief and rescue teams to reach victims cut off in the mountains. "It is reconstruction where the pledges are highly inadequate because reconstruction would require billions of dollars... for houses, infrastructure, hospitals, schools, colleges and police stations, roads and bridges," Sultan said.(Posted @ 19:32 PST)
NATO says no to quake airlift, may send troops MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Oct 21 (Reuters) NATO said on Friday it would send up to 1,000 troops to help hundreds of thousands of earthquake survivors who have been waiting for two weeks for help in the rugged mountains of northern Pakistan. But it rebuffed a U.N. call for a massive airlift to rescue stranded survivors on the scale of the 1948-49 Berlin airlift to the beleaguered people of Soviet-blockaded West Berlin. "There is no question of the alliance doing that. That was Berlin after World War Two and this is Pakistan now; there is absolutely no comparison," said one NATO source. NATO ambassadors agreed to send 500 to 1,000 soldiers, including an engineering battalion and just a small number of helicopters. "It's been approved," a NATO official said in Brussels. A NATO spokesman said earlier that while aid work was not the alliance's "bread and butter", it had already transported over 1,000 tonnes of supplies to Pakistan's quake victims and 40 percent of the helicopters flying there were from NATO nations.(First Posted @ 19:38 PST Updated @ 20:56 PST)
Seismic survey to be conducted before reconstruction: PM BAGH, Oct 21 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Friday said the government with the assistance of Turkey and other countries will conduct seismic surveys in the quake-affected areas, before any reconstruction begins. Attending a press briefing here along with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyib Recep Erdogan, he said Pakistan has sought the assistance of Turkey, which has experience in dealing with earthquakes, to conduct the geological survey. "We have shoddy construction and we do not follow the building code, and risk human lives." he said. He said the government would soon implement a new building code which would cater to all requirements of modern construction. He said soil testing would be a prerequisite for all new constructions. Aziz added that "we will soon be getting 7000 tents a day, which will be despatched to the remote areas." However in the meantime, he added, there was a need that the earthquake affectees have some sort of temporary construction, keeping in view the fast approaching winter. He urged the people to start reconstructing, at least one room, with corrugated steel sheets as roofing material, till the massive rebuilding operations gets underway.(Posted @ 20:38 PST)
Turkey joins criticism of quake aid offers MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Oct 21 (Reuters) Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan joined the increasing chorus of complaints on Friday about a slow international response to the devastating earthquake in Northern Pakistan. "By the end of 2004, the world had put one trillion U.S. dollars into weapons and we have to ask how much the world has put aside for this disaster in Pakistan," he said after a helicopter flight over the shattered region. "We have to open our hands more. Today it's Pakistan, tomorrow it can somewhere else," he told reporters through an interpreter in the destroyed city of Muzaffarabad. "We have to feel what they are a feeling. And as people who are in a responsible position we have to take responsibility for this," he said a day after the United Nations said the world was not doing enough to help. Quake-prone Turkey has pledged $150 million in immediate aid and Erdogan said his country would also help in reconstruction. "There is work to be done here in the short, medium and long term," he said. "We should not stop with the first initial help. We have to fulfil our duties in the medium and long term, from infrastructure to housing."(First Posted @ 14:40 PST Updated@ 16:52 PST)
Chances dimming of opening LoC: Pakistani official ISLAMABAD, Oct 21 (AFP) The chances were dimming that India and Pakistan will reopen the Line of Control after nearly six decades in the wake of the earthquake tragedy, Pakistan's disaster relief chief Major General Farooq Ahmad Khan said Friday. "My concern is that time is running out. If there are long parlays on the modalities then the window is closing," he told reporters when asked about Musharraf’s proposal. India welcomed the proposal but said it was awaiting details. Indian officials later said Pakistan had not made any concrete proposal. Pressed on whether Pakistan had submitted a proposal to India, Khan signalled that Musharraf's remarks to the media were enough. "Let me put the question in the correct perspective," Khan said. "Should the time be wasted or should you wait forever that the proposal in writing would come?" adding that "at this time, on the Line of Control, the divided families need to join together. That's the bottom line."(Posted @ 20:32 PST)
SC asks CDA to provide accommodation to 140 affected families of Margalla Towers ISLAMABAD, Oct 21 (APP): A four-member Supreme Court bench Friday directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman to provide reasonable accommodation to 140 affected families of Margalla Towers apartment blocks that collapsed due to earthquake on October 8. The court issued notice to respondents, including the construction company that had built the building, and adjourned the case until October 28. The bench also directed the Inspector General of Police, Islamabad, to appear before the court on the next date of hearing and submit a report regarding steps that have been taken or being taken to arrest persons who had sold these flats as mentioned in the FIR No. 101 registered against them. According to a short order passed by the bench, the accommodation to be provided by the CDA should be equivalent to the status of damaged flats. If this was not possible then the Chairman CDA should constitute a committee within three days to asses the rent of flats and the same should be paid to owner/tenants of Margalla Towers' flats on regular monthly basis to make their own arrangements.(Posted @ 17:58 PST)
Islamabad seen at more risk of quakes: Meteorologists ISLAMABAD, Oct 21 (Reuters) Meteorologists said on Friday the Pakistani capital could be categorised as being at greater risk of earthquakes after the Oct. 8 quake. The head of Pakistan's Meteorological Department, Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, said up till now Islamabad had been classified as being in a category three earthquake zone, a moderate hazard seismic zone. But he said seismic zone classifications had to be revised after Oct. 8 and Islamabad might fall into “the high hazard, or very high hazard, category as the epicentres are coming closer than before." New fault lines might have opened up, posing greater danger to the city, but that would only be determined by geological studies, another meteorologist said. "The redefining of the zones will take place once the aftershocks are over but Islamabad will definitely go to the higher level," said the second meteorologist, who declined to be identified. Most of Pakistan is considered at some risk from earthquakes as below the ground the Indian plate of the earth's crust is pushing north into the Eurasian plate.(Posted @ 20:52 PST)
Over 51,300 killed in Pakistan quake: official ISLAMABAD, Oct 21 (AFP) More than 51,300 people were killed and 74,500 people were injured in Pakistan's October 8 earthquake, the national disaster relief chief Major General Farooq Ahmad Khan told a news conference on Friday, raising the death toll by more than 1,500. A day earlier, Khan had given a toll of 47,739 dead and "around 74,000" injured. Khan said that the relief operation's biggest concern remained finding tents to house the more than three million people homeless in Pakistan. "I'm emphasising that the need to provide winterised tents is the most urgent. Unless these are received in time the despatch to the far-flung areas will be difficult. Those without shelter in those high altitudes need that assistance now," he said. (Posted @ 17:20 PST)
UN presses NATO to boost quake aid efforts BRUSSELS, Oct 21 (AFP) The United Nations' top relief official pressed NATO Friday to bolster its help for victims in earthquake-shattered Pakistan, a day after calling for a mass air evacuation of stricken survivors. Speaking after talks with NATO ambassadors in Brussels, Jan Egeland said the military alliance has agreed to increase its efforts, although he gave no details. "I had a very positive meeting with the NATO council today," he said, referring to the North Atlantic Council (NAC), NATO's top decision-making body. "NATO is planning to increase its operations further and will work more closely with the Pakistani government and the United Nations in their operations," he added, quoted by his spokeswoman. While Egeland did not repeat a public call for NATO to do more, his spokeswoman said he did so in NATO talks. "This was the aim of the meeting," the spokeswoman said. (Posted @ 17:28 PST)
Russian doctor pleads for better quake child care ISLAMABAD, Oct 21 (Reuters) The septuagenarian Russian doctor raged against the world as he emerged from the operating theatre of Pakistani Institute for Medical Sciences, the Islamabad hospital where he's worked tirelessly for days to save the lives of earthquake victims, many of them children. "We don't have a good global system to help children during disasters," said the paediatrician Leonid Roshal. "If you don't give good hospital care the child will die, no matter how good the first aid," Roshal said. About 1,200 children have been operated on, a large number of the procedures handled by Russian surgeons. Many casualties' injuries became infected because they were unable to get medical attention for days, leaving doctors little choice other than to amputate limbs to save lives. Roshal agonised over just such a dilemma during his brief break from the operating table. The feet of a six-year-old girl whose legs were crushed have turned black due to lack of blood circulation. Amputation appeared inevitable, but the girl's father begged him, saying her life would not be worth living without her feet. "I am still trying to find another way for her," he sighed. "I only decide to amputate if I am 100 percent sure it is impossible to do it another way."(Posted @ 20:05 PST)
Tetanus kills five as Pakistan quake wounds fester BALAKOT, Pakistan, Oct 21 (AFP) Five people died from tetanus in the aftermath of Pakistan's devastating earthquake and 42 other cases were being treated, the health ministry said Friday. In the ruined northern city of Balakot, a battalion commander said the World Heath Organisation had informed him of "cases of diarrhoea and a few cases of tetanus". Pakistan had a stock of 4,000 doses of anti-tetanus globulin, an expensive medicine used to cure patients who caught the disease; a further 8,000 doses were coming on Saturday, including 4,000 from neighbouring India the health ministry's Mahmood said. Egypt had already sent 200,000 doses of anti-tetanus vaccine to prevent the disease, and a further 1.8 million doses were expected from other countries in the next few weeks, he added. Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned that "if (tetanus wounds) are left for weeks with no proper treatment, these wounds become more infectious, more necrotic."(Posted @ 19:30 PST)
Indian government says all Kashmiris will have tents by month-end SRINAGAR, Oct 21 (AFP) All homeless quake survivors in Occupied Kashmir will have a tent by the end of October and snow-proof shelters by the end of November, the home ministry said Friday. The government said it had already provided more than 15,000 tents to the region and 1,898 more should arrive by Saturday. Mehbooba Mufti, the head of Peoples Democratic Party, said 35,000 tents were needed to house tens of thousands of villagers whose homes were destroyed in remote mountain hamlets. The government said it would buy 1,000 tents from the Netherlands and another 1,000 arctic tents from Alaska, but that would still leave the government short by at least 10,000 tents.(Posted @ 20:28 PST)
Norway gives 27.7 million dollars in extra aid to Pakistan OSLO, Oct 21 (AFP) Norway will contribute an additional 180 million kroner (23.1 million euros, 27.7 million dollars) to rescue and aid work in the quake-hit regions of Pakistan, the government announced on Friday. "Winter is approaching. Rescuers are in a race against the clock. We all have an obligation to do everything we can to save lives," Development Aid Minister Erik Solheim said in a reference to the situation in Pakistan. Norway has already allocated 53 million kroner for aid operations underway in the country. (Posted @ 17:15 PST)
Pakistani tent makers struggle to meet quake demand KARACHI, Oct 21 (Reuters) Pakistani tent makers said on Friday they were struggling to meet a government demand for 8,000 tents a day to shelter some two million survivors of earthquake before winter sets in. The tent makers say it's going to be impossible to meet that target. "The problem is that all the tent manufacturing units in Pakistan cannot produce more than 5,000 tents a day," M.J. Aftab, owner of a tent manufacturing company, said. Pakistan has about 110 manufacturing units, most of them in the main textile cities of Karachi and Lahore, according to the secretary of the country's tent makers and exporters association, Nisar Ahmed. The manufacturers requested the government to control the rising cost of raw materials and ensure their smooth supply. "Some people are trying to exploit this urgent situation and the plight of the earthquake survivors. If we don't get controlled-price raw materials than it's difficult to meet the government demand," another manufacturer said. Ahmed said another problem was that the price the government will pay tent makers was too low, and the government was demanding better quality tents, able to shelter families from a bitter winter only weeks away. According to the tent makers' association, the wholesale price of quality tents is around 6,500 rupees ($110) while the government is only offering 4,500 rupees ($75). "Despite the price and raw material problems, we've started manufacturing tents on a daily basis to meet urgent requirements," Ahmed added. (Posted @ 15:25 PST)
ADB, World Bank start Pakistan quake assessment MANILA, Oct 21 (Reuters) The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank said they would start an assessment in Pakistan on Monday of the needs and reconstruction costs after the devastating earthquake two weeks ago. The Manila-based ADB said its part of the assessment would focus on education, transport, water, energy and agriculture, while the World Bank would concentrate on livelihood restoration, housing, health, the private sector and the environment. The joint team is expected to submit its report by mid-November, the ADB said in a statement on Friday. "Efficient coordination is crucial at this stage to ensure that work is carried out as quickly as possible according to our respective strengths and experience," said Peter Fedon, the ADB's country director in Pakistan. "The first thing is to provide all possible assistance to the communities affected by the earthquake," John Wall, the World Bank's country director for Pakistan, said in the statement. "At the same time it is imperative that the country's poverty reduction programme does not lose steam," he added. (Posted @ 14:55 PST)
Stench of death slowly clears in Muzaffarabad MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Oct 21 (AFP) Letters are arriving again, clear water runs from some taps, barbers are sharpening their razors and shops are reopening their doors. Slowly, the stench of death is clearing from quake-ravaged Muzaffarabad. Soldiers are now even concerning themselves with controlling traffic in this Kashmiri city as the military lends a hand to the decimated police force. Although aid workers are still struggling to reach cold and hungry survivors in far-flung villages of the Himalayas, people are trying to return life to normal in Muzaffarabad. Electricity has been restored to 90 percent of normal service, according to local authorities. The water treatment plant is running at 70 percent and, in the few hours it operates each day, covers 70 percent of the city, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. Cranes are removing the grim sight of mounds of rubble, and the odour of decomposing bodies is gradually dissipating. Telephone call centres have opened up and cell phone operators are restoring service. Small businesses have returned, and ramshackle shops sell fruits and vegetables and even sweet pastries. The long waits are also getting shorter at gas stations. (Posted @ 14:50 PST)
Cuba doubles Pakistan quake medical team to 200 ISLAMABAD, Oct 21 (Reuters) Around 100 Cuban doctors, nurses and paramedics arrived in Pakistan on Friday, ready to work right away to bring relief to survivors of the earthquake. A first batch made the 26-hour flight from Havana a week ago and the latest influx brought the total number of Cuban medical staff on the ground in Pakistan close to 200. Cuba's First Deputy Minister Rodrigo Parrilla said the medical teams could stay for at least 90 days, and added that President Fidel Castro personally ordered the teams to be sent to Pakistan. (Posted @ 14:35 PST)
Pakistan soldiers hunt bodies in rubble of centuries-old town HATTIAN DUPATTA, Oct 21 (AFP) - Brick by brick, stone by stone, sweat-drenched Pakistani soldiers dig under a mountain of rubble in this once bustling, centuries-old town in Azad Kashmir. Almost two weeks after the disaster, the stench of decay hangs thick in the air, indicating that many of the town's 2,000 residents who remain unaccounted for could be buried under the debris. One hundred thirteen bodies have been recovered so far. There is devastation all around but the peoples will to struggle and recreate a semblance of normal life known no bounds. "I will rebuild the family house, even if I have to do it alone and with my bare hands. We don't have any money and there is no help yet. No bulldozers, no trucks to help us clear out the rubble," said Manzoor Rahman, a 25-year-old university student. Two of Rahman's 15 relatives died, while entire neighboring families were wiped out. Nearby, a madrassa has been crushed. Abandoned school bags and scattered shoes indicate that there were children inside when it crumbled. The bodies of four students were recently dug out from the site, and more are believed underneath, soldiers say. "We only used our hands to get the four bodies." "Soon, very soon more troops will arrive." Town after town, village after village, it is the same story (Posted @ 10:10 PST)
