Posted on 10/10/2005 7:36:29 AM PDT by ex-Texan
SRINAGAR/ISLAMABAD: The death toll in a magnitude 7.6 earthquake, epicentred in Muzaffarabad, was put at 40,000 by independent sources on Monday against a government count of 20,000 in Pakistan as the armed forces deployed all their helicopters and transport aircraft for rescue operations.
Looting broke out in almost totally destroyed Muzaffarabad, which was desperately short of food, medicine and water. ''They've lost everything, they have no clothes, no food, nothing,'' said a resident. ''People have started looting things from shops.''
International community, led by the US and Saudi Arabia, sent aid worth millions of Dollars, rescue teams, helicopters, aircraft and vehicles.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was slated to make an assessment of the damage in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday where the figure had crossed 1000 with 4000 injured and about 100,000 people rendered homeless.
Official sources said the number of dead and wounded has gone up as the reports of casualties have started pouring in from far-flung and inaccessible areas. The death toll is likely to go up further as the fate of several hundred inhabitants of a number of villages is unknown.
Pakistan’s private television geo TV quoted United Nations officials as claiming that the earthquake claimed over 40,000 lives. However, government officials say that the toll may be little over 20,000 but a senior Minister in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) has said that 30,000 people were killed in the region alone.
Talking to reporters late on Sunday night, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz confirmed 19,369 deaths. He added that the figure did not include 250 Army soldiers, several of whom were feared killed during rescue operations.
Around 42,000 people were injured in Saturday's earthquake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale with epicentre, located 95 km North-East of Islamabad in PoK region.
The countries, which pledged the financial assistance on Sunday, include United States, Britain, China, France, Jordan, Turkey, Australia, Austria, Ireland, Indonesia, Japan and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
On Sunday, the United Nations and United Kingdom based non- governmental organisation, Islamic relief also announced a 20 million dollars credit and 3.6 million dollars aid package respectively for reconstruction operations.
Pakistani authorities are facing serious problems in carrying out relief operations due to limited quake management capabilities, which also led to an increase in the number of injured persons to 42,000.
Authorities in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) feared the death toll in northern Pakistan might go up to 9,000. Mansehra, Batgram, Abbotabad and Balakot were the worst-hit areas where thousands of people were also rendered homeless.
A senior provincial Minister Alhaaj Ayaz Khan told media that the death toll in Batgram area has surpassed figure of 1,000.
In PoK, there were more than 11,000 casualties in Muzaffarabad alone. Authorities say that 75 per cent of the city has been destroyed completely by the deadliest quake.
Some 12 students were pulled alive from rubble of the degree college building in Muzaffarabad. However, one of them succumbed to his injuries on reaching hospital.
Pakistani and British rescuers pulled another person alive from debris of Margella towers, which had caved in seconds after massive tremors rocked Islamabad.
An 86-member British team had flown into to Islamabad on Sunday along with latest equipment including cutters, detectors and sensors to evacuate hundreds of people, who were trapped under the debris.
A senior local administration official said some 86 people were rescued while 17 lost their lives in the building collapse.
In Jammu and Kashmir, officials have put the death toll at 750 in the state so far.
J&K Chief Secretary Vijay Bakaya said about 750 people have been killed and 2413 wounded due to the devastating earthquake so far.
He said while 734 people lost their lives in the Kashmir valley alone, 17 died in the Jammu region.
Bakaya said 469 people died in Baramulla, 258 in Kupwara, six in Srinagar and one in Badgam districts of the valley.
He said ten people were killed in Poonch, three each in Udhampur and Doda and one in Jammu districts.
The Chief Secretary said about 2323 people were wounded in the Kashmir Valley and 90 in Jammu division.
About 1692 people were wounded in Baramulla, 350 in Kupwara, 237 in Srinagar, 21 in Pulwama, 13 in Anantnag and ten in Badgam districts, he added.
Bakaya said 62 people were wounded in Poonch, 15 in Jammu, nine in Rajouri, three in Udhampur and one in Doda districts.
He said 4597 houses in the state were damaged in the earthquake.
About 4071 houses were damaged in Kashmir division and 526 in Jammu region.
The Chief Secretary said 1600 houses were damaged in Baramulla, 1200 in Kupwara, 380 in Badgam, 657 in Anantnag, 234 in Srinagar, 268 in Poonch, 119 in Rajouri, 79 in Doda, 30 in Udhampur, 24 in Jammu and six in Kathua.
Bakaya said Uri and Tangdhar border areas have been the worst hit in terms of damage to life and property.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told CNN's late edition programme that hundreds of millions of dollars will ultimately be needed to rebuild destroyed roads, housing and other infrastructure. He said for now, the emphasis is on moving recovery equipment to hard-hit areas and meeting basic humanitarian needs.
''well, what we need most is tents which are for temporary accommodation; we need blankets because it is getting cold out there. We need medicines,'' Aziz said.
President Musharraf, too, made an appeal for international help, including a special plea to Pakistanis living abroad.
Pakistan ruled out any joint operation with India along the line of control (LoC) to provide relief to the affected people.
''I don’t think there is possibility of any joint operations,'' Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told a press briefing in Islamabad.
Now they say widespread looting has broken out... Cue the Islamic Beer Looting Dude...
Call Mayor Nagin again. His police are wanted in Pakistan now. That is, "wanted" for the crime of looting.
Tsunamis, Hurricanes, Mudslides, Earthquakes! Disaster overload. OK, timeout!
Karl Rove upgraded his weather machine into an earthquake machine.
The Russkies are offering to sell their weather manipulation technology to the highest bidder. But what do I know, anyway.
Some how the MSM has got to find a way to pin this on Bush.
Muslims were happy about Katrina and said it was Allah's way of striking the infidels. First Indonesia with the tsunami and now Pakistan, Allah must have switched sides.
WGAF
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