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Desperate Pakistanis await earthquake aid
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-11 09:11 Eight U.S. helicopters — five Chinook transport choppers and three Black
Hawks for heavy lifting — were diverted from the war in neighboring Afghanistan.
They carried supplies, tarpaulins and equipment, including high-tech cameras for
finding buried survivors.
Three military cargo planes with blankets, tents, meals and water also
arrived.
"Pakistan is one of our closest allies in the war on terror and we want to
help them in this time of crisis," Sgt. Marina Evans, a U.S. military
spokeswoman, said in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Washington pledged up to $50 million in aid, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker
said.
"We have under way the beginning of a very major relief effort," he said.
Volunteers bury bodies of Pakistani earthquake
victims in a mass grave in Balakot, North West Forentier Province (NWFP),
two days after a powerful earthquake rocked the
region.[AFP] | Pakistan also said it would accept
aid from its longtime rival India, which promised tents, food and medicine.
However, Islamabad declined an offer of helicopters and has ruled out a joint
rescue operation along the disputed frontier.
The nations fought two wars over Kashmir, which both claim in its entirety. A
15-year insurgency opposed to New Delhi's rule has killed more than 66,000
people, mostly civilians.
India reported 865 deaths in its portion of the province.
Planeloads of aid arrived from Britain, Japan, Turkey and the United Arab
Emirates. Russia, China and Germany also offered assistance.
With winter approaching, thousands of homeless Pakistanis huddled in tents
and in the open. Many lit fires using wood from collapsed houses.
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