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Heavy rain, snow lash Pakistan quake zone
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-02 10:36
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan - The season's heaviest rain and snow lashed
Pakistan's earthquake-hit areas Sunday, grounding helicopter aid flights and
deepening the misery of survivors who huddled around campfires to keep warm.
Aid workers have warned that cold weather in the Himalayan foothills, where
temperatures have already fallen below freezing, may claim more lives after the
magnitude-7.6 quake Oct. 8 left about 87,000 dead and 3.5 million homeless.
Poor visibility forced a suspension of flights by helicopters from the United
Nations, foreign militaries and Pakistan's army, which have been delivering
winterized tents, clothes, food and other provisions to survivors, said an air
force officer at Chaklala air base, near the capital, Islamabad.
The weather was likely to clear up enough for flights to resume by late
Monday, he said on condition of anonymity, in line with Pakistani government
policy.
The United Nations estimates 2.5 million people are living in tents below
5,000 feet and up to 400,000 others are in higher areas where it is feared that
snow and rain will make it harder for helicopters and trucks to reach them.
Cold rain pelted the quake zone throughout Sunday, and about 12 inches of
snow fell above 6,000-foot level, said Qamar-uz Zaman Chaudhry, head of
Pakistan's Meteorological Department.
On Sunday evening, heavy snow also blanketed Muzaffarabad, the capital of
Pakistan's portion of Kashmir and the supply center for the humanitarian
operation. Residents reported that roads leading to the higher mountains were
blocked by vehicles stuck in snow.
Chaudhry said more snow and rain were likely over the next two days.
As the cold chilled sprawling tent cities that have sprung up in Pakistan's
northwest and in Kashmir, survivors struggled to keep warm around campfires and
candles — exposing them to yet another danger.
Police said three young sisters died Saturday when a fire swept through a
tent in Gul Deri, a village in the northwest. A candle started a blaze inside a
tent that the family pitched next to their home, which was destroyed by the
quake, police official Samar Khan said.
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