 |
|
| November 1, 2005 | Tuesday | Ramzan 27, 1426 |
Pakistan seeks more medical aid as quake toll rises MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Nov 1 (Reuters) Pakistan appealed for antibiotics and painkillers on Tuesday as it raised the toll from last month's devastating earthquake to 57,597 killed and nearly 79,000 injured. The updated figures from Pakistan Federal Relief Commission brought the total official toll from the disaster to nearly 59,000, including 1,309 confirmed deaths and 6,622 injuries in Occupied Kashmir region. Of those injured in Pakistan, over 29,000 were being treated in army and civil hospitals and more were in field hospitals and facilities run by non-governmental organisations, said the commission's health chief, Major General Abdul Qadir Usmani. At a meeting with aid workers and donors in Islamabad, the commission asked non-governmental organisations for more coordination in the massive international relief operation. Andrew Macleod, operations chief of the U.N. emergency coordination cell in Pakistan, told the meeting this need was one of two major challenges, along with scarcity of donor funding. Given the number of casualties and the fact many hospitals were destroyed and medical staff killed, Usmani called on donors to keep emergency field hospitals running until March. In a statement the commission also called for medicines and equipment, including antibiotics, painkillers, dozens of operating tables and 100 specialist beds for spinal injuries. NATO said on Tuesday it was setting up a hospital in the earthquake zone and Dutch personnel had arrived as part of a multinational team to staff it. The meteorological office said showers could be expected overnight in Kashmir and temperatures could fall as low as minus 12 Celsius in highland areas.(Posted @ 20:28 PST)
Musharraf says integrated approach being adopted to rehabilitate affectees RAWALPINDI, Nov 1 (APP): President General Pervez Musharraf Tuesday said the government was committed to the rehabilitation of earthquake victims including orphaned children, widows and disabled persons through an integrated approach aimed at providing them adequate shelter, education, healthcare and economic opportunities. He was addressing a meeting which discussed matters related to handling of patients in hospitals, rehabilitation of refugees after helping them to overcome the shock, assistance required in their return to their areas as quickly as possible, distribution of compensation amounts and assistance in the rebuilding of their individual homes. The meeting stressed that no patient would be discharged from hospitals without being registered, after which they would be taken to affiliated convalescence centres in Rawalplind and Islamabad. It was also agreed that after proper identification, orphaned children and those still without their parents, destitute women and those needing rehabilitation would be taken care of by the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education. The meeting was informed that distribution of money would be properly recorded and photographed so as to obviate any chances of misappropriation. "The government will pay special attention to these people at dedicated centres - but all segments of the society including the non-governmental organizations should contribute to these efforts, as we have to enable these people to rebuild their lives," Musharraf said.(Posted @ 19:18 PST)
Aid agencies struggle without Pakistan quake funding GENEVA, Nov 1 (AFP) International aid agencies have received less than one quarter of the funding they need for emergency relief for Pakistani quake victims, nearly one week after donors promised more money, the United Nations said Tuesday. UN agencies reiterated that the shortfall was threatening the relief effort with winter looming in the mountains of Azad Kashmir, although aid was seeping through to more remote areas. "It's not enough, it's very disappointing. We need more money and if it's not coming we will not be able to rent more helicopters," OCHA spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told journalists. The UN UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)said it had delivered 2,000 tonnes of supplies to Pakistan, mainly shelter equipment, but 10 times more was needed as a "top priority". The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimated that 200,000 people in isolated villages had still not been reached. Many relief workers were turning to alternative ways of providing temporary shelter. The IOM was trying to find ways of using material from destroyed housing while the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was supplying tarpaulins to weatherproof makeshift wooden shelters in remote villages. "You can transport 16 times more tarpaulins in a helicopter than tents," said ICRC spokesman Vincent Lusser.(Posted @ 20:28 PST)
Thousands of radios for Pakistani quake survivors in Kashmir MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Nov 1 (AFP) Earthquake survivors in Muzaffarabad would be given about 5,000 radios in coming days to hear about relief and reconstruction efforts, an official said Tuesday. A new FM radio station being set up jointly by the University of the Punjab and the United Nations Children's Fund would provide the radios for free, the official said. Meanwhile, national broadcaster Azad Kashmir Radio, which was destroyed in the October 8 earthquake, has resumed its service. And state television would restart broadcasting this week, the official added.(Posted @ 21:35 PST)
Nigerian state donates to Pakistan quake victims KANO, Nigeria, Nov 1 (AFP) A Nigerian state government has donated 13 million naira (100,000 dollars) to victims of last month's quake in Pakistan that claimed more than 57,000 lives, a government spokesman said Tuesday. Niger State's information commissioner, Umar Ragada, told AFP the money was handed over to the Pakistani embassy in Abuja on Monday. He said Pakistan had contributed to the educational development of Nigeria in the past, especially in teaching science and mathematics.(Posted @ 20:35 PST)
Iran donates field hospital, 10 ambulances and equipment ISLAMABAD, Nov 1 (APP): Iran on Tuesday said it was handing over its field hospital, ten ambulances and other equipment used by Iranian Medical teams for the victims of Oct 8 devastating earthquake, to the Pakistani authorities, besides donating another 10,000 tents. Deputy Chief of the Mission and Head of the Quake Relief Headquarters Rouhi Sefat at the Iranian embassy said the decision follows talks between Iranian Vice President Dr. Saeed Lou (Executive Affairs) with President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz during his recent visit.(Posted @ 19:10 PST)
Qatar to rebuild houses, schools and hospitals ISLAMABAD, Nov 1 (APP): Qatar on Tuesday said it would rebuild a specific area, in its entirety, by constructing houses, schools and hospitals, in the region, which was almost devastated by the Oct 8 earthquake. The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani also assured Pakistan of liberal import of Pakistani manpower as well as assistance in rebuilding the earthquake hit areas. He was talking to Foreign Minister Khurshid M. Kasuri who was on a tri-nation visit of gulf states, as Special Envoy of President General Pervez Musharraf to apprise the Gulf leadership about the Oct 8 earthquake and its devastating effects. Kasuri also reiterated an invitation on behalf of the President to Qatari Emir for a visit to Pakistan. In response to a request, the Emir said Qatar would do its best to have a more liberal visa regime for Pakistani manpower, in the coming days.(Posted @ 19:04 PST)
U.S. admiral aboard mercy flight for Pakistani baby MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Nov 1 (Reuters) The medics in the back of the U.S. Army helicopter got down on their knees, one blowing air through a valve into a Pakistani baby's mouth, the other holding an intravenous drip in its foot. Everyone aboard anxiously watched the green line of a heartbeat zig-zag across a black screen, as the one-year-old child lay there with a tube fixed to a half-depressed syringe containing thick lime liquid. Sat just behind the Blackhawk pilots, Rear Admiral Michael LeFever, commander of the U.S. disaster relief mission in Pakistan, commended them on flying lower and faster over the rugged range of hills surrounding Muzaffarabad. LeFever saw the boy at the mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) and immediately acceded to a request to evacuate him to Rawalpindi, but only minutes after take-off, as the helicopter gathered altitude, the child's condition deteriorated. "This is a replay for me. I've seen this once before since I've been out here. There was a lady with her leg wide open, crushed in the earthquake, and it was all gangrenous," recalled LeFever. "It was the smell of death. I'll never forget it," LeFever said before adding, "But she lived, we saved her." He could only hope the child, whose name he didn't even know, would be just as lucky. Full of praise for the Pakistani government and army, LeFever says the United Nations is right in looking for more money from the members of the international community, given the scale of the rehabilitation and rebuilding tasks. But he was sure, with the world pulling together, Pakistan would get through the crisis. The numbers are changing all the time, but on Tuesday U.S. forces had 925 people on the ground, excluding those contained in the NATO contingent also here.(Posted @ 18:48 PST)
Hardliner wants to send quake aid workers to Occupied Kashmir KARACHI, Nov 1 (AFP) A cleric on New Delhi's most wanted list of alleged terrorists said Tuesday he wanted to send aid workers to Occupied Kashmir. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed founded the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Saeed left the group shortly before it was outlawed by President Pervez Musharraf in 2002 and set up the charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa. "We want our workers to go to Indian-occupied Kashmir to provide relief. It will include tents, blankets, medicines, winter clothes and a team of doctors," Saeed said. But officials said it was unlikely Jamaat-ud-Dawa workers would be allowed to cross, especially as New Delhi continues to allege the infiltration of militants from Pakistan. (Posted @ 15:30 PST)
Occupied Kashmir gears up for winter survival battle KARNAH, Occupied Kashmir, Nov 1 (Reuters) Shivering in the autumn chill, 12-year-old Adil Khan and his younger brother collect wood and tin sheets from a heap of rubble. This was their home until a devastating earthquake hit Kashmir three weeks ago. "It is spine-chilling when I think of winter," says their father, 50-year-old farmer Assadullah Khan. "Tents won't work. We have to make a shelter of tin sheets and wood that will protect us from the snow and the icy winds." Karnah, one of the worst hit areas close to the frontier with Azad Kashmir, is normally isolated for three or four months every winter. Snow is already falling higher up. "I don't want to loose another child to the cold in this tent," another survivor said. "We have collected tin and wood, the government is also helping us." An aid organisation from the nearby state of Punjab is building 11 community centres in the Karnah valley. "Little time is left. Over 250 workers including architects and engineers are working day and night to make these halls," says an architect for the aid group. (Posted @ 15:20 PST)
Earthquake of mild intensity jolts Peshawar, Hazara PESHAWAR, Nov 1 (APP): An earthquake of mild intensity was recorded by the seismological Network of Pakistan, Meteorological Department on Tuesday. According to the preliminary analysis of Meteorological Station Peshawar, the earthquake originated at 12 hours 03 Minutes P.S.T and its epicentre lied about 200 kilometres North East of Peshawar in Hazara Division. The magnitude of the earthquake on international Richter scale was 4.7 and was felt in Islamabad and Hazara Division. (Posted @ 14:52 PST)
Fate of remaining towers after report of technical committee: Sherpao ISLAMABAD, Nov 1 (APP): Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Tuesday informed the National Assembly that the fate of remaining parts of Margallah towers in Islamabad's sector F-10 will be decided after the report of the technical committee. Speaking on a Calling Attention Notice about the problems of the residents of these towers, he said the technical committee is headed by Prime Minister's Inspection Team. "We will be able to decide the fate of remaining towers (whether they need to be emolished) when the technical report comes in," Interior Minister said. (Posted @ 12:00 PST)
|
|
|
|
