World leaders act to help Asian quake nations
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-09 20:59

President George W. Bush and other world leaders sent or offered rescue teams and aid to Pakistan on Sunday after a huge quake battered the region, killing more than 30,000 people.

Residents spend the night in a park for fear of more earthquakes in the northern Indian city of Jammu October 8, 2005. More than 300 people were killed in Indian Kashmir on Saturday after a major earthquake damaged hundreds of houses and triggered landslides that buried huts and blocked highways, authorities said. [Reuters]

The United States, which had to mount major domestic relief efforts in the past few weeks when hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck, said it would provide $100,000 in emergency aid funding to the country and was also offering U.S. military helicopters.

Bush, who counts Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as a key ally in the U.S.-led war against terrorism, said further assistance would be provided as needed.

"My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this horrible tragedy," he said in a statement, echoing an outpouring of sympathy from across the world.

Britain, Japan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were among other countries dispatching immediate help, as the sudden official jump in the death toll on Sunday from less than 2,000 to more than 18,000 created a sense of urgency.

The United Nations said it was in contact with Pakistan, India and Afghanistan to help after Saturday's 7.6 magnitude earthquake, South Asia's strongest for 100 years.

The Swiss government put an aircraft on standby to fly a U.N. disaster and coordination team to Pakistan, the worst hit of the three countries, where officials said some 40,000 people had been injured by the quake.

CHILDREN VULNERABLE

U.N. International Children's Emergency Fund ( UNICEF) executive director Ann Veneman said children made up half the population of the quake affected areas and would be vulnerable to hunger, cold, illness and trauma.

"Getting immediate life-saving relief into the region will be our priority for the next hours and days," said Veneman.

UNICEF said it had begun moving blankets, clothing, tents, medical supplies, food for infants and water purification tablets from a Karachi warehouse to quake-hit areas.

In India, where more than 300 people were killed, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh phoned Musharraf to offer help with relief and rescue work in a further sign of easing tensions between the once arch-rival nuclear armed countries.

An Indian Foreign Ministry official said Musharraf thanked Singh and would get back to him if Pakistan needed any help. The two countries would stay in regular contact, the official said.

The Dutch government offered 1 million euros in aid and a rescue team, Dutch news agency ANP said, while China's state news agency said the country sent Pakistan a rescue team with search dogs and equipment and relief materials.

Australia said it had given $379,000 for immediate help to Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, where at least one person died.

British officials said Britain was sending search and rescue experts, sniffer dogs and aid workers to Pakistan.

Japan, experienced in dealing with quakes of its own, said it was sending relief workers and $220,600 worth of goods such as blankets and tents.

Turkey, another quake-prone nation, said two military planes with doctors, rescuers and aid had left for Pakistan. The Turkish Red Crescent had asked for three more planes to take aid to quake victims, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office said.

Turkey has warm ties with fellow Muslim nation Pakistan. Musharraf spent part of his youth in Turkey.

The United Arab Emirates said it had dispatched a police rescue team to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah ordered the immediate transfer of supplies and medical teams. "God protect the Islamic republic of Pakistan and its brotherly people from all harm," said a royal decree.

The international Oxfam charity organization said one of its teams was on its way to Pakistan's North West Frontier Province where there had been "massive disruption" and where in some places all of the houses had collapsed.

"Oxfam will be meeting with other aid agencies and the U.N. to coordinate our initial response," Jane Cocking, the charity's earthquake response coordinator, said in a statement.