ISLAMABAD, Oct 29: Thousands of people left stranded in the Neelum valley in the wake of the Oct 8 earthquake will have to wait for at least four months to be fully rescued as it is becoming harder to avoid or control landslides there.

Informed sources told Dawn here on Saturday that ‘young mountains’ continued to collapse, making the job of government and private agencies extremely difficult and delaying plans to rescue tens of thousands of people in the Neelum valley.

Security agencies have conceded that there is little hope of repair work being undertaken in the coming weeks due to the huge blockade in the Neelum river in the Kail area of Azad Kashmir.

At present only helicopters can be used to evacuate the people, many of whom are refusing to leave their mountain villages without their animals, sources said.

The current number of MI-17 helicopters operating in the areas is considered insufficient to effectively carry out rescue and relief work in the Neelum valley. Most of these helicopters were inducted in the army after 9/11.

“But 22-25 Chinook helicopters of US CentCom have been shipped to Pakistan and will reach here within the next few days,” a source said, adding that the government was worried about the plight of those left stranded in the Neelum valley.

He said a high-level meeting presided over by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Friday considered a proposal to offer a temporary shelter and Rs25,000 to each individual willing to come down from the mountains keeping in view an assessment that it would take 4-6 months to get the Neelum valley opened for travelling purposes.

While some roads have been opened in Jhelum and Kaghan valleys, an area covering 30 kilometres of Neelum valley could not be even partially rehabilitated and opened since the earthquake struck the region.

Sources said the president had also been advised that some permanent institution be created to respond to disasters with active input from the army.

They said the government had decided to pay from its own coffers the fuel charges of helicopters as the State Bank account had not received enough funds.

Sources confirm that it costs $6,000 to fly a helicopter for an hour.

“We will provide funds for the fuel so that helicopters do not stop flying,” a source said. “One of the major lessons learnt in the wake of the Oct 8 earthquake is that we must prepare for the effective handling of future disasters and have a better civilian set-up to cope with the situation,” the source said.