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A month after quake, misery still ahead
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-09 00:47
The mountain village of Chaamb, a 20-minute helicopter ride east of the
Pakistani Kashmir hub of Muzaffarabad, is emblematic of the slow pace of relief.
Hundreds died in the town of 3,000 and two-thirds of the homes collapsed, but it
received its first aid shipment on Nov. 4, said resident Mohammad Aslam Raza.
"Rations, tents and blankets are all needed," he said, adding: "We're so
thankful for all the help.
In the village of Jura, just east of the frontier with India, U.N. workers on
Monday handed supplies to the Pakistani army for distribution, while residents
waited behind a rusty barbed wire fence.
"There are still thousands of people in the hills in very difficult
conditions and we hear often of children dying of disease and hunger," said the
town's school teacher, 24-year-old Wajad Iqbal Sheikh.
And the danger does not go away for those who reach shelter in relief camps.
British charity Oxfam warned this week of a looming health crisis in tent camps
that have popped up throughout Pakistan's quake zone, most still lacking
adequate clean water and sanitation.
"Unless conditions are improved in these camps, diseases like cholera could
spread like wildfire," said Oxfam quake relief head Jane Cockin. "If disease
does break out in the camps, the number of deaths could far exceed those in
danger in their villages."
Acute diarrhea, tetanus and measles have already killed dozens of people
since the quake, and an unknown number have died due to a lack of medical
treatment. The winter could bring hypothermia, pneumonia and other respiratory
illnesses — with the very young and very old likely to be the main victims.
World Food Program emergency relief coordinator Michael
Jones said Tuesday they have seen early signs of malnutrition among some
survivors, though he stressed the international relief effort would not let
people starve to death.
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