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| November 3, 2005 | Thursday | Ramzan 29, 1426 |
India completes repairs of Occupied Kashmir highway SRINAGAR, Occupied Kashmir, Nov 3 (Reuters) The Indian army said on Thursday it had completed repairs on its side of a mountain highway connecting occupied Kashmir which was damaged in last month's devastating earthquake. "The road from Uri to Kaman Post has finally been made operational and is being dedicated to the people on a very auspicious day, just a day prior to Eid," an army statement said. "This would also facilitate movement of relief material for the relief points established next to Kaman Post." (Posted @ 14:30 PST)
Jordan queen in TV campaign for Pakistan quake children AMMAN, Nov 3 (AFP) Jordan's Queen Rania on Thursday launched a television appeal for the child victims of last month's devastating earthquake in Pakistan that killed more than 73,000 people and has left millions homeless. "The children of the Pakistan earthquake need you. Many are sick and injured. And now, the outbreak of disease poses an immediate and very real threat," the queen said in a public service announcement. "It only takes five dollars to immunize a child and give him or her a new lease on life. Help us reach the four million children who need protection from disease." The media campaign has been launched in cooperation with the UN children's fund, UNICEF, and the announcements were being aired on television stations carried by Arabsat and Euro Sat. State-run Jordan television was also running a telethon to collect donations. (Posted @ 18:15 PST)
China sends another 13,000 tents BEIJING, Nov. 3 (APP): A cargo train carrying 13,000 tents left Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province Thursday for Kashi in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. From Kashi, the tents will be transported to quake-hit areas in Pakistan to help quake victims to survive coming winter months. (Posted @ 17:20 PST)
No Eid functions at President's secretariat, PM House ISLAMABAD, Nov 3 (APP): No Eid function will be held in the President's Secretariat or the Prime Minister's House this year, it was officially announced on Thursday. President General Pervez Musharraf also made an appeal to the nation to celebrate Eid ul Fitr with simplicity in view of earthquake. "It is my appeal to you to remember the earthquake victims in your Eid festivities, celebrate Eid with simplicity and deposit fitrana and zakat and generous donations in the President's Relief Fund,” he said in a message. (Posted @ 17:20 PST)
Pakistani villages still cut off as grim Ramadan ends MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Nov 3 (AFP) Rescuers tried Thursday to reach dozens of villages left without any aid since last month's quake as solemn survivors marked the last day of Ramadan. "The problem is of means of transportation, that's why we are trying and appealing to the international community to come and help us with choppers," Brigadier Zafar Ali said. In Muzaffarabad, streets wore a deserted look ahead of Eid-al-Fitr. "What is Eid?" Nasima Bibi, whose 18-year-old son Mustafa died in the quake, asked as she cleared the young man's simple grave. Many of the open-air venues where people would traditionally offer Eid prayers are now home to tent villages. However 1,000 students from the youth wing of Jamaat-e-Islami came to Muzaffarabad on Thursday to distribute gifts and toys to child survivors. (Posted @ 16:50 PST)
Quake survivors pray for a miracle as they put off Eid festivities SALAMABAD, Occupied Kashmir, Nov 3 (AFP) Earthquake survivors in devastated frontier regions of Occupied Kashmir will mark Eid al-Fitr by praying they survive the freezing months ahead rather than in celebration. "When you are left at the mercy of the government to provide even rice how can I celebrate Eid? It requires a miracle to keep us alive in the winter," Akbar Din, a farm labourer from quake-flattened Salamabad village, 105 kilometers northwest of Srinagar, said. In towns such as nearby Uri where 750 people were killed by the quake, shops selling sweets, toys and daily essentials have opened up to cater for the few buyers who still have cash. A kilometre away from Salamabad, in Jhula village, seven-year-old Irshad sits on a small rock in the market. His uncle has gone in search of aid being distributed by non-governmental organisations. Women holding their children wait in the street for any relief arriving by truck. "Eid is a time for festivities but right now we are no better than beggars," Jehangir Al-Hasan, from the remote village of Dulanja near the LoC, said. "The only way out is to pray we escape the cold months ahead and that the next Eid is better," he added. (Posted @ 14:50 PST)
Health worries mount for Pakistan quake victims MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Sickness is increasing among Pakistani earthquake survivors, a U.N. official said on Thursday, after the government dramatically increased the death toll from the disaster to73,276. "The situation is quite desperate," the chief U.N. disaster coordinator, Rashid Khalikov, told Reuters in Muzaffarabad, "We have noticed a sharp increase in acute respiratory infection that can lead to pneumonia," he said. He said seven deaths from water-borne diarrhoea had been reported from a town in North West Frontier Province, although there had been no reports of deaths from exposure. The U.N. children's fund says measles is also spreading in cramped tent settlements and it is launching a vaccination drive in the coming days. "What worries us most is the dramatic increase in vulnerability of the population, and there are not so many coping mechanisms that they have to deal with this," Khalikov said. (Posted @ 12:50 PST)
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