Canadian26
10-17-05, 5:57 AM
Pakistani officials have increased their estimated death toll from last week's earthquake to more than 54,000.
Poor weather conditions could drive that number even higher, as some of the two million left homeless by the disaster struggle to survive.
At least 40,000 people have died in Kashmir alone, a spokesperson for the top official in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir told The Associated Press. He added that more than 1,350 people died in Indian-controlled Kashmir, and roughly 13,000 people in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.
However, Pakistani officials in Islamabad said the death toll is 39,422.
The country's relief commissioner, Maj.-Gen. Farooq Ahmed Khan, told Pakistani television that the toll could climb much higher before it stops.
"Some people fear that the death toll could be 100,000 and they may be right," he told reporters during a news conference. Bad weather would only contribute to the increase.
"There are bound to be casualties because of bad weather. How much, I don't know," he said.
Khan also said that 29,000 tents and 118,000 blankets had been distributed, but that 100,000 tents were still needed. Medical supplies such as syringes, painkillers and antibiotics were also needed.
Early Sunday, a Pakistani helicopter flying an aid mission to earthquake survivors crashed in bad weather, killing all six military personnel on board.
A senior army official said Sunday the MI-17 transport helicopter was returning home late Saturday after dropping off relief workers.
"The speculation is that it could be the hazards of flight. It could be some technical fault, or it could be some isolated weather in the area," said Brigadier Khalid Mahmood of the Pakistani army.
The helicopter went down in the town of Bagh, one of the areas hardest hit by the massive magnitude-7.6 quake that struck on Oct. 8.
Torrential downpours and clouded weather severely disrupted relief flights on Saturday, and the bad weather continued Sunday.
The U.S. military said it had suspended its helicopter flights.
"Nobody's going out today," said Col. Mark McKearn, who is charge of U.S. relief flight operations.
A 13-member team of doctors from the U.S. planned to fly to the affected area from Lahore on Sunday, but it was unclear whether they would be delayed by the weather, state news agency APP reported.
The team, including Pakistani doctors practicing in the U.S., was bringing tents, medicine and hospital equipment.
U.S. State Department official Geoffrey Krassy said many in the quake zone remain cut off from aid.
"About 20 percent of the populated areas have yet to be reached," said Krassy, who normally conducts aerial patrols along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, watching for narcotics smugglers. His unit has been redeployed to provide relief to earthquake victims.
The weather has only added to the suffering of millions in devastated regions.
Sajid Hussain, a doctor in Bagh, waded Sunday through ankle-deep water wearing a pair of plastic sandals, and green surgical scrubs rolled up to his knees. He was heading toward a truck doubling as his operating theater.
Pounding rain overnight flooded the field of the boys' college where he had set up, and a layer of water covered the floor of the tent where several patients lay waiting for surgery.
"It has been a tragedy and now this rain has made everything so much more horrible for people," Hussain said.
Relief workers have not been able to provide enough temporary shelters for town residents, let alone for the refugees who have streamed in from the mountains seeking aid.
In a sign of cooperation between two longtime rivals, however, India gave Pakistan permission late Saturday to send relief helicopters into the 1.6-kilometre-wide no-fly-zone on the Pakistani side of the cease-fire line that divides Kashmir. Normally, both countries keep their helicopters 1.6 km back from the line.
I cant beleive that the death toll is still rising, ppl are so short of supplies there... and they' re predicting that the toll can even go higher.
Poor weather conditions could drive that number even higher, as some of the two million left homeless by the disaster struggle to survive.
At least 40,000 people have died in Kashmir alone, a spokesperson for the top official in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir told The Associated Press. He added that more than 1,350 people died in Indian-controlled Kashmir, and roughly 13,000 people in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.
However, Pakistani officials in Islamabad said the death toll is 39,422.
The country's relief commissioner, Maj.-Gen. Farooq Ahmed Khan, told Pakistani television that the toll could climb much higher before it stops.
"Some people fear that the death toll could be 100,000 and they may be right," he told reporters during a news conference. Bad weather would only contribute to the increase.
"There are bound to be casualties because of bad weather. How much, I don't know," he said.
Khan also said that 29,000 tents and 118,000 blankets had been distributed, but that 100,000 tents were still needed. Medical supplies such as syringes, painkillers and antibiotics were also needed.
Early Sunday, a Pakistani helicopter flying an aid mission to earthquake survivors crashed in bad weather, killing all six military personnel on board.
A senior army official said Sunday the MI-17 transport helicopter was returning home late Saturday after dropping off relief workers.
"The speculation is that it could be the hazards of flight. It could be some technical fault, or it could be some isolated weather in the area," said Brigadier Khalid Mahmood of the Pakistani army.
The helicopter went down in the town of Bagh, one of the areas hardest hit by the massive magnitude-7.6 quake that struck on Oct. 8.
Torrential downpours and clouded weather severely disrupted relief flights on Saturday, and the bad weather continued Sunday.
The U.S. military said it had suspended its helicopter flights.
"Nobody's going out today," said Col. Mark McKearn, who is charge of U.S. relief flight operations.
A 13-member team of doctors from the U.S. planned to fly to the affected area from Lahore on Sunday, but it was unclear whether they would be delayed by the weather, state news agency APP reported.
The team, including Pakistani doctors practicing in the U.S., was bringing tents, medicine and hospital equipment.
U.S. State Department official Geoffrey Krassy said many in the quake zone remain cut off from aid.
"About 20 percent of the populated areas have yet to be reached," said Krassy, who normally conducts aerial patrols along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, watching for narcotics smugglers. His unit has been redeployed to provide relief to earthquake victims.
The weather has only added to the suffering of millions in devastated regions.
Sajid Hussain, a doctor in Bagh, waded Sunday through ankle-deep water wearing a pair of plastic sandals, and green surgical scrubs rolled up to his knees. He was heading toward a truck doubling as his operating theater.
Pounding rain overnight flooded the field of the boys' college where he had set up, and a layer of water covered the floor of the tent where several patients lay waiting for surgery.
"It has been a tragedy and now this rain has made everything so much more horrible for people," Hussain said.
Relief workers have not been able to provide enough temporary shelters for town residents, let alone for the refugees who have streamed in from the mountains seeking aid.
In a sign of cooperation between two longtime rivals, however, India gave Pakistan permission late Saturday to send relief helicopters into the 1.6-kilometre-wide no-fly-zone on the Pakistani side of the cease-fire line that divides Kashmir. Normally, both countries keep their helicopters 1.6 km back from the line.
I cant beleive that the death toll is still rising, ppl are so short of supplies there... and they' re predicting that the toll can even go higher.