WASHINGTON, Nov 12: Half of the 74,000 people killed in the Oct 8 earthquake in Pakistan were children, says a report distributed among US lawmakers in Washington.

Quoting UN and Pakistani relief officials, the report says that “an entire generation has been lost” to the earthquake.

“Children and women are still the most vulnerable,” warns Theresa Rhodes of CARE USA, which is working on both sides of the LoC to provide relief to the victims.

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who is scheduled to visit Pakistan later this month to review the situation, warned that more lives could be lost if immediate steps were not taken to save these women and children.

“We must embrace our friends in Pakistan to save lives,” she said.

The United Nations says that half of the 74,000 people killed by October’s earthquake in Pakistan were children.

The total official death toll stands at around 74,000 people, but international donors estimate that more than 86,000 were killed in Pakistan alone.

Because half of Pakistan’s population is under 18, United Nations Children’s Fund representatives estimate that half of the people killed by the quake were children.

Nearly four fifths of all schools and public buildings collapsed in the affected area, and local government figures say that 17,000 of the dead were students in school.

“Very high percentage of the dead is that of young people,” says Jessica Einhron, dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. “Tens of thousands of students and teachers have been buried under the rubbles.”

The report points out that the quake has left hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Many mountain roads are still blocked by landslides and aid has yet to reach many in remote areas.