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Kashmir earthquake survivors abandoned to freezing winter freezing wi
Three months after the October 8 Kashmir earthquake, many thousands of survivors are living in tents and face the danger of freezing to death as the Himalayan winter worsens. Severe cold waves have been reported from the quake-affected areas, with nighttime temperatures falling well below zero degrees Celsius, and heavy snows have fallen. Minus-2 degrees has been recorded in Muzaffarabad, the capital of the worst hit Pakistani province of Kashmir and minus-13 degrees in mountain villages where many earthquake victims are living.
Aid agencies have been warning for months of a looming winter disaster whose death toll could easily exceed that of the initial catastrophe. At least five million people in Pakistan and India were affected by the 9.0 magnitude quake. More than 87,000 people have died, and about three million are still homeless, many living in temporary tent camps or in mountain villages, increasingly cut off from relief supplies.
CARE International warned again on January 5: “[T]he harsh Himalayan winter is expected to be even worse than usual this year, creating fears of another wave of deaths from hypothermia, pneumonia and other respiratory infections—particularly among children—among those with no or inadequate shelter and poor sanitary conditions.”
It added that there are not enough winterised tents to go around, so survivors had begun moving south in search of warmer weather. “Those most at risk from the extreme cold are the estimated 1.5 million people who haven’t found shelter... For many of them, the prospects of finding properly winterised shelter are running out.”
Another aid agency, ADEPT, reported on January 9: “Three million shelterless are spending nights in the open. Many villages continue to remain inaccessible... Cut-off villages need urgent help and medical aid and thousands could die of hypothermia, injuries, and disease over the next few weeks as the harsh Himalayan winter looms.
“There are reports that 15,000 tents have been supplied. But these are such that they cannot keep out the harsh cold of the Himalayan winter. Winter has not yet begun but night temperatures drop as low as minus five degrees centigrade. What are required are arctic or winterised tents that can keep out the cold, withstand the howling winds and do not crumble under the six to eight feet of snowfall, and allow a fire to be lighted inside (kerosene stoves or heaters would create another logistical problem of supply of fuel).”
More
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jan2006/kash-j16.shtml
CARE International warned again on January 5: “[T]he harsh Himalayan winter is expected to be even worse than usual this year, creating fears of another wave of deaths from hypothermia, pneumonia and other respiratory infections—particularly among children—among those with no or inadequate shelter and poor sanitary conditions.”
It added that there are not enough winterised tents to go around, so survivors had begun moving south in search of warmer weather. “Those most at risk from the extreme cold are the estimated 1.5 million people who haven’t found shelter... For many of them, the prospects of finding properly winterised shelter are running out.”
Another aid agency, ADEPT, reported on January 9: “Three million shelterless are spending nights in the open. Many villages continue to remain inaccessible... Cut-off villages need urgent help and medical aid and thousands could die of hypothermia, injuries, and disease over the next few weeks as the harsh Himalayan winter looms.
“There are reports that 15,000 tents have been supplied. But these are such that they cannot keep out the harsh cold of the Himalayan winter. Winter has not yet begun but night temperatures drop as low as minus five degrees centigrade. What are required are arctic or winterised tents that can keep out the cold, withstand the howling winds and do not crumble under the six to eight feet of snowfall, and allow a fire to be lighted inside (kerosene stoves or heaters would create another logistical problem of supply of fuel).”
More
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jan2006/kash-j16.shtml
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