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| November 6, 2005 | Sunday | Shawwal 3, 1426 |
New aftershocks jolt quake-battered Pakistan ISLAMABAD, Nov 6 (AFP) A severe aftershock measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale and two mild aftershocks rattled earthquake-battered northern Pakistan early on Sunday, the seismological department said. The strongest aftershock since October 8 struck the capital Islamabad, North West Frontier Province and Azad Kashmir at 7:12 am (0212 GMT), a department official told AFP. It had its epicentre 120 kilometres north of Islamabad and rattled the cities of Peshawar, Malakand, Swat, Mansehra, Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Rawlakot, he said. Earlier, two mild aftershocks measuring 4.5 and 4.7 on the Richter scale were felt in Balakot, Mansehra and Muzaffarabad at 1:42am and 4:04 am, he said. There were no immediate reports of damage but the aftershocks panicked residents who abandoned their homes and tents to rush to safety, witnesses said. (Posted @ 12:00 PST)
Pakistan says all LoC crossing points ready in quake-hit Kashmir ISLAMABAD, Nov 6 (AFP) Pakistan said Sunday it was ready to open five designated crossing points on the Line of Control(LoC) with India in Kashmir, even though India has said it was only ready to open one. "As far as Pakistan is concerned we are ready to open crossing points on the five designated places at the Line of Control (LoC) on Monday," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam. "India has informed us that they would be able to open one crossing point Poonch-Rawlakot on Monday because some work remains to be done on their side to open the rest of the crossing points which could be opened on November 9 and 10," she said. Military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said "as far as the army is concerned we have done the job and set up relief centres at all five locations." India's foreign ministry said Saturday that the first crossing point will be opened at Chakan da Bagh on Monday, followed by another at Kaman on ednesday and a third in Tithwal on Thursday. (Posted @ 13:15PST)
Delivery of 3000 tents in Abbottabad distt to start Monday ABBOTTABAD, Nov 6 (APP): Delivery of 3000 tents in Abbottabad district quake affected areas will start on Monday, said Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Amanullah Khan Jadoon. Talking to newsmen after a briefing at Army Relief Center about the ongoing rehabilitation activities, the minister said, early delivery of tents to the earthquake affected people in the district will help save them from the cold weather. (Posted @ 19:50 PST)
Pakistan, India ready to open quake-hit Kashmir border amid new aftershocks RAWLAKOT, Pakistan, Nov 6 (AFP) - Pakistan and India were Sunday making final arrangements for opening their heavily militarised border in Kashmir to help earthquake relief efforts as new strong aftershocks rocked Pakistan. Pakistan said Sunday it was ready to open five designated crossing points on the de facto border with India in Kashmir, even though India has said it is only ready to open one. (Posted @ 19:40 PST)
Pakistan quake survivors determined to stay put KHAGAN VALLEY, Pakistan, Nov 6 (Reuters) Barely a house still stands in Pakistan's earthquake-shattered Khagan valley and in a few weeks time it will lie under a blanket of deep snow. Although temperatures are already bitterly cold at night, most of the subsistence farmers of this remote valley in NWFP do not want to leave. They say they want to stay with their cattle and are highly suspicious of the tent camps set up in the lowlands by the government and international aid agencies, where conditions are spartan at best and miserably squalid at worst. "There is a lot of panic in those camps and no discipline at all," a 20-year-old driver Naveed said. "And the food supply is just for one month; what do we do then?" The official death toll from the earthquake that hit Pakistan is at more than 73,000, with another 1,300 killed in Occupied Kashmir. The first snows of winter have already fallen on mountain peaks and Pakistan's Meteorological Office says widespread showers are expected from next Thursday, which would fall as snow over 5,000 feet by next weekend. Despite their reluctance to leave, many Khagan residents appear still in shock from the disaster and few have attempted to rebuild their damaged homes, though there are exceptions. Abdul Qadir, an agriculture department official, said the isolated mountain communities of the Khagan are wary of strangers and would not mix well with people from elsewhere. "If you want to move the whole of Khagan it's okay. If you want to put people from Khagan, Rajwala and Jaraid together, it is difficult," he said referring to neighbouring communities. "We share our problems and everything, but we don't know the people from Jaraid. We don't know their problems and they don't know ours." (Posted @ 11:45 PST)
Fiedel Castro assures support to Musharraf in telephonic conversation RAWALPINDI, Nov 5 (APP): Cuban President Fiedel Castro has assured President General Pervez Musharraf of his country's full support in earthquake relief efforts, informing that Cuba was despatching another team of 200 doctors to serve in the quake zone. The two leaders had a telephonic conversation for half an hour Saturday evening, during which Castro said Cuba stands with Pakistan in this hour of difficulty. Castro informed Musharraf that a Cuban Federal Minister would be based in Pakistan shortly for coordinating relief efforts in the quake-shattered areas of NWFP and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The arrival of the second medical team would double the number of Cuban doctors to 400 as 200 practitioners from Cuba were already providing treatment to people in the quake-hit areas. Musharraf thanked the Cuban leader for his expression of support and informed him about the government's large-scale relief operations in the mountainous region. (Posted @ 11:20 PST)
UN says heating the next priority for freezing quake victims ISLAMABAD, Nov 5 (AFP) The United Nations relief chief in Pakistan said on Sunday that the aid effort after the huge quake four weeks ago was coming together, but now survivors urgently need sources of heating to stay alive. Emergency Coordinator Jan Vandemoortele also hailed President Pervez Musharraf's decision to delay the purchase of F-16 jet fighters as a welcome move, saying it will free up money for aid. "We have to focus now on the next big problem which will be heating," Vandemoortele said an interview. "We have been talking a lot about shelter and tents, and this has resulted in good action on the ground. But heating has not been very visible…we need gas, kerosene, efficient wood stoves," he said. The Belgian said he was now more optimistic because money was coming in. But he warned that the UN still needed more and there were massive challenges ahead. Logistical problems "remain one of the big ticket items, as the roads are not yet reopened or rebuilt, helicopters will be the only way to reach the people in the mountains". Vandemoortele said the UN had received about 135 million dollars of its half-billion-dollar flash appeal for the quake and would be able to carry on operations if it reached 200-250 million dollars. Pakistan's move to postpone buying around 25 multi-million-dollar warplanes from the US would also increase funding for quake victims, Vandemoortele added. "It will certainly free up the money to take a larger part of the pie, because the work has to be done and if the international community will not come up with the resources, the ultimate resources will be domestic," he said. (Posted @ 12:09 PST)
Kaghan valley road traffic likely to be resumed within 2 to 3 days ISLAMABAD, Nov 5 (APP): Pakistan Army officials are optimistic about restoration of road in the Kaghan valley within 2 to 3 days. They said that traffic would start on the road within two to three days, BBC reported. Heavy equipment have been off loaded by helicopters at many points on the road and damaged parts of the track are being repaired. BBC quoted Brigadier Tariq saying that the army's first target was to restore the road before Eid but it was delayed a little. He, However, maintained that the traffic would start on the road within three to four days.(Posted @ 02:00 PST)
Affectees will soon be shifted to safer places: Anisa ISLAMABAD, Nov 5 (APP): Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli on Sunday said, the earthquake affectees will soon to shifted to safer places and there is no fear of life losses due to rains and snowfall. "The government is committed to safety and rehabilitation of the earthquake affectees and in next few days the injured and those trapped in far flung areas, will be shifted to aid centres or the safer places," she said during her visit to earthquake affected of Mansehra and Balakot on the Eid day. She said the government and the people of Pakistan will continue relief efforts till the rehabilitation of every single affectee of the earthquake.(Posted @ 01:35 PST)
UN food agency deploys world's largest helicopter but calls for more international funding MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 5(APP): The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has started flying an MI-26 - the world's largest helicopter capable of lifting 10 times the previous loads - for relief supplies into areas hit hardest in the earthquake, but UN officils stress that more international funding is still urgently needed. "With winter coming fast, we need to get as much humanitarian relief pre-positioned as we can and the MI-26 can make a real difference to our ability to do it. It's a crucial element to this very complex operation," WFP's Chief of Logistics Service Amer Daoudi said. (Posted @ 19:00 PST)
Finland sends relief items for quake-hit areas ISLAMABAD, Nov 5 (APP): A total of 1,000 tents for winter use were loaded onto a Boeing 747 at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport for Pakistan earthquake-hit areas. Also on board were heaters, bedding materials, sleeping bags and other supplies. Finland has provided 5 million euros (about 6 million US dollars) to help the victims of the earthquake. (Posted @ 17:05 PST)
World response to quake not good enough: Yusuf Islam LONDON, Nov 4 (AFP) Yusuf Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, criticised the response to the Pakistan earthquake Friday, calling for a better, more coordinated aid effort from the international community. "This is one of the most difficult and inhospitable areas to work in, it's so inaccessible," Islam said, referring to the thousands of homeless victims of the disaster still trapped in the mountainous Kashmir region. "There should have been more of a response in regards to the need for helicopters and other transport systems to deliver the aid, but nobody was ready for it," he added. "That is perhaps an indictment on most countries of the world. Why isn't there more of a ready, rapid, response force which governments can take part in to help?" he asked. "These calamities are not going away. There seem to be more and more of them each day. I do point the finger of blame. They should get together and do more." (Posted @ 11:26 PST)
Govt racing against time to provide shelter before winter: PM BAGH (Azad Kashmir), Nov 4 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Friday said the government was racing against time to provide some shelter for the quake-affected people, before the winters set in. "We are sending in more tents, providing Rs 25,000 for each damaged house initially and setting up tent villages, so that the homeless are protected from the severe winters," he told a gathering at a relief camp. (Posted @ 20:00 PST)
Pakistan to postpone buying F-16s: Musharraf MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Nov 4 (Reuters) Pakistan will postpone the purchase of F-16 fighter jets from the United States in order to provide more relief to victims of the Oct. 8 earthquake, President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday. "I am going to postpone that," Musharraf told reporters when asked about the purchase of the aircraft while visiting a quake-hit region of northern Pakistan. "We want to bring maximum relief and reconstruction effort," he said, while stressing that maintaining national security was also important. The United Sates said last year it was willing to sell Pakistan F-16 fighters. Pakistan has been expected to buy about 80 of the aircraft.(Posted @ 14:15 PST)
Quake aid suffers because West unhurt: Musharraf LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) Western countries were stingier with aid for this year's earthquake in Pakistan than last year's Asian tsunami because wealthy tourists weren't caught up in the disaster, President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday. Last year's tsunami killed more than 230,000 people. But Musharraf told Britain's BBC radio he believed this year's earthquake had caused greater damage. "The tsunami, I think if one compares it realistically, I would think the damage here is much more. The magnitude of the calamity here is much more," Musharraf said. International donors responded generously to the tsunami because "it affected people from many countries of the world, especially the West who were tourists in various areas." "Here, unfortunately, this is a remote area, poor people affected. I would appeal to the world to see reality- that it is these people who deserve aid much more." (Posted @ 16:50 PST)
ICRC urges world to send accessories for establishing temporary shelter ISLAMABAD, Nov 4 (APP): International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Friday called upon the international community to send more nails, hammers, tarpaulins for establishing temporary shelters in the quake zone. "People are trying to take anything they can use for erecting shelters. Tents are of course very important but they need hammers, nails, tarpaulins for establishing temporary shelters," Jessica Barry Representative ICRC told BBC. The ICRC has set up medical facilities in the Neelum and Jhelum valleys. Helicopters were providing food, shelter items, etc to the quake survivors, she said.(Posted @ 15:16 PST)
Kashmiri leader calls for free movement of people across LoC URI, Occupied Kashmir, Nov 4 (AFP) Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, joined quake survivors Friday on the Indian side at a mass prayer to mark the Eid festival and called for the free movement of people across the Line of Control (LoC). He also urged the Indian government to permit foreign aid agencies into Kashmir to speed up relief operations. "People should be allowed to cross easily. There must be no police or intelligence checks as they already have a permanent resident certificate. Let there be free movement of people," Farooq told a gathering more than 3,000 worshipers at a military base before prayers began. "We have requested the Indian government to allow foreign aid agencies…the relief efforts of India are not enough in a disaster of such a huge scale. There are people out there without food and shelter," Farooq added.(Posted @ 14:12 PST)
India scales back Kashmir relief crossings SRINAGAR, Occupied Kashmir, Nov 4 (AFP) A historic opening of the Line of Control (LoC) starting Monday has been scaled back from five to three crossing points, the Indian army said, despite fears for the survival of earthquake victims. "Only three relief points will be opened on November 7 along the Line of Control (LoC)," Indian army spokesman Vijay Batra said on Friday. Crossing points and relief camps will be opened indefinitely at locations identified by the army as Nauseri on the Pakistan side and Teetwal in Occupied Kashmir, Chakhti-Uri, and Rawalakot-Poonch. Batra said the Tattapani-Mendhar and Hajipeer-Uri points would be opened only if there was demand from both sides. He gave no reason for the decision not to open the two posts, but sources explained that both areas were highly mined. However, preparations for setting up aid camps at both the crossings were still going on. "We will be in a state of preparedness and if we are asked to open these two points, we can make them operational too in no time" he said.(Posted @ 14:10 PST)
Bleak Eid for Pakistani quake survivors MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Pakistani earthquake survivors had little to celebrate at the end of the holy month of Ramadan on Friday, nearly four weeks after more than 73,000 people were killed in the country's worst disaster. Political leaders spent the Eid al-Fitr holiday with survivors in Pakistan's northern mountains where an Islamist leader said NATO relief troops were actually coming to look for al Qaeda militants, not to help. People in predominantly Muslim Pakistan mark the end of the fasting month by dressing up in new clothes and visiting family and friends but there was little festivity at a tent camp for homeless survivors in the ruined city of Muzaffarabad. "This Eid I have no clothes and no shoes but what matters most is, this Eid my father is dead," said 10-year-old Sana, camped out at a tent village on a sports ground near the devastated university in the capital of Azad Kashmir. "I've lost everything. I don't know how many days I will sit here because everything is gone," said Sana, who was living with her mother and grandfather. Azad Kashmir and adjoining North West Frontier Province bore the brunt of the 7.6 magnitude quake, which also seriously injured more than 69,000. It was the strongest to hit South Asia in 100 years and left more than three million people in need of emergency shelter with a bitter Himalayan winter approaching.(Posted @ 12:15 PST)
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