Pakistan Earthquake: Relief finally reaches hungry survivors

Pakistan Earthquake: Relief finally reaches hungry survivors
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan - 72 hours after the shuddering earth razed their lives, the survivors of the massive earthquake that shook Pakistan were greeted by the sight of relief trucks finally rolling into Muzaffarabad today as heavy rain hampered relief efforts.

Officials here admit that the death toll would cross the 40,000 mark as several relief flights had to be cancelled owing to heavy rain and hail. Andrew Macleod, spokesman for the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team, which is working round the clock said that the main aim was to help survivors in the initial days, "The priority of the last three days has been to recover as many people as we can, but now we need to concentrate on getting more and more relief rushing to the quake-hit north." His comments were proved right as hungry survivors looted the relief truck since they could not wait for the food to be distributed properly.

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Meanwhile, Turkish search and rescue teams pulled out 11 people from rubble in Muzaffarabad and 40 children were found alive at a school in the Balakot area of the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP). However, a lot still needed to be done since remote areas where the 7.6 Richter scale caused maximum damage remain inaccessible, "We still have a huge logistical problem. Small villages and outlining towns in the north are still inaccessible and the only way to get across them is by air. So we still need helicopters," Macleod confirmed.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf has constituted a Federal Relief Commission to coordinate with other agencies as a massive relief operation is being mounted. There were rumors of another impeding earthquake, which caused many to sleep in the open in the biting cold. The earthquake has flattened most of the mountainous areas and rescue teams have almost given up hope of finding any survivors.