Media Updates

Washington Doctors Team to Leave for Pakistan Today
14th Oct 2005

A private team of about 25 specialist doctors is leaving Washington 1:00 PM, Friday, October 14 for Pakistan to help the relief efforts in Pakistan’s earthquake hit areas.

The team includes Americans, Pakistanis, and an Indian American doctor. Most of the doctors on the team live in the Washington metro area, but doctors from as far as Tennessee and New York have also joined the team. Two American nurses are also volunteering their team for the relief mission.

Dr. Khalid Athar and Dr, Najam Farzad of the Georgetown University Hospital spearheaded the mission to build the team in the Washington area. Most of the medical equipment was donated by George Washington University Hospital.

For immediate media calls, please contact:
Ms. Sadia Khalid
Tel: 914-320-9560 (cell)
E-mail: sadia_faraway@yahoo.com

Yahoo News Updates (14th Oct)

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan on Friday called off the search for survivors of last week's devastating earthquake to concentrate on helping the millions left homeless. Aid workers rushed to set up makeshift villages before the onset of the fierce Himalayan winter.

Maj. Farooq Nasir, an army spokesman, said the chances of finding any survivors in the rubble a week after the quake were "very slim."

International rescue teams prepared to pull out, and relief workers held mass burials for those found too late.

In Islamabad, police launched a criminal investigation of the builders of an apartment building that collapsed during the quake, killing at least 40 residents, police chief Sikandar Hayat said. The 10-story building was the only structure that collapsed in the capital.

"We will arrest all those who didn't perform their duty well," he said. "They might be the builders, contractors or supervisors."

Supply flights landed at an airfield outside Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, through the night, including a NATO jet that brought in eight tons of blankets, tents and sleeping bags from Slovenia.

A rescue team working urgently to save a trapped 22-year-old woman in Muzaffarabad was forced to halt operations after a frightening aftershock jolted parts of Pakistan. The woman died before the rescuers were able to resume work.

Saturday's 7.6-magnitude earthquake wiped out entire villages in Pakistan's portion of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir and killed more than 35,000, including many children buried under collapsed schools. India has reported more than 1,350 deaths in the part of Kashmir it controls.

Thousands of survivors spent a sixth night outdoors. At least 2 million people are homeless and face increasingly harsh weather, according to the United Nations. Snow has begun to fall in some parts of Kashmir.

Jan Egeland, the U.N. undersecretary-general and emergency relief coordinator, flew by helicopter to the Kashmiri city of Muzaffarabad, where he said millions of people urgently needed food, medicine, shelter and blankets.

"I fear we are losing the race against the clock in the small villages" cut off by blocked roads, Egeland said. "I've never seen such devastation before ... every day the scale of devastation is getting wider."

The U.S. military was preparing to send a 36-bed Mobile Army Surgical Hospital — or MASH — from Germany. A water purification detachment would also be sent, the U.S. military said.

Pakistan's federal relief commissioner, Maj. Gen. Farooq Ahmad Khan, said the country expected to have 2 million blankets and 100,000 large tents on hand to establish makeshift villages before the onset of winter. The quake wiped out 200,000 houses for 2.3 million people, he said.

New Zealand doubled its earthquake aid to $1 million as the "seriousness of the situation in Kashmir and the northern regions of Pakistan continues to grow," Aid Minister Marian Hobbs said.

About 100 Japanese troops and two military transport planes carrying a helicopter and a power-supplying vehicle left to help with relief efforts, officials said.

A relief team from Britain-based Plan International flew a helicopter carrying water, juice and milk to villages in the Mansehra district of North West Frontier Province and said people were hungry and panicking.

"Conditions are going from bad to worse," said Dr. Irfan Ahmed, the aid group's health adviser. "These people don't have any shelter. Also the school has collapsed, and the children were in those classrooms."

Another Britain-based group, ActionAid International, said its workers tried to reach remote mountainous areas, but had to get out of their truck and walk because of bad roads and traffic jams.

"The problem is that people are facing a shortage of time," said Shafqat Munir, a spokesman for the group. "It's cold, raining. People are without shelter. They have food, clothes, blankets, but tents are a problem."

A 5.6-magnitude aftershock Thursday was centered 85 miles north of Islamabad, near the epicenter of Saturday's 7.6-magnitude quake that demolished whole towns, mostly in Kashmir and northwestern Pakistan. It shook buildings, but there was no significant damage in an already demolished region.

A milder aftershock hit the same area Thursday night, and another early Friday morning, with no immediate reports of damage.

There have been more than 60 aftershocks higher than magnitude 5, including one that registered 6.4, and nearly 500 in total since Saturday's quake. Experts said they could go on for months.

In Muzaffarabad, relief workers wrapped 35 bodies in shrouds and carried out a mass burial on Thursday. The burial was coordinated by Jamat-e-Dawad, a group linked to Islamic militants that is operating dozens of ambulances in the city and running a camp for quake victims.

International teams that have staged extraordinary rescues in recent days said chances of saving more lives were remote. Some prepared to pull out.

"No one is giving up, but it is the acceptance that the actual real chances of finding someone alive are almost nil," said Rob Holden, the team leader for U.N. disaster assessment and coordination.

Earthquake Helpline Numbers - AAJ TV

KASHMIR AFFAIRS EMERGENCY CELL: 051-920-9650

ISLAMABAD MARGALLA TOWERS: 0300- 989-6255 and 0321-530-7085

ISLAMABAD HELPLINE: 051- 926-0187

LAHORE HELPLINE: 042-920-1118

FATMID FOUNDATION: 021-222-5284 and 0300-921-0647

ANSAR BURNEY WELFARE TRUST: 0300-824-3459 and 0301-824-3459

EDHI CENTRE: 115, 0300-826-3319, 021-220-1261, 042-541-4211, 051-282-7844

PRESIDENT / PRIME MINISTER FUND: 051-922-2999, 051-921-3891

Reuters Updates (12th Oct - 1:00 pm)

Relief effort picks up for Kashmir quake survivors

MUZAFFARABAD: Medicine and food flowed into areas of northern Pakistan on Wednesday as rescue operations in the devastating Kashmir earthquake increasingly became a relief mission for those who survived. At daybreak, six huge trucks and three large vans belonging to Pakistan's largest private trust, the Edhi Foundation, arrived in worst-hit Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan

Relief authorities were most concerned about the weather and the onset of winter, which usually comes in mid- to late-October. Reuters reporters saw snow at the tops of the mountains seen from Battagram, 230 km (145 miles) from Islamabad in North West Frontier Province.

AAJ TV Ticker Updates (11th Oct - 1:00 pm)

Peshawar: Relief goods looted by people in Manshera. Several trucks carrying relief goods are waiting clearance but fear lawlessness

Lahore: Pakistan Medical Association announces aid and to send teams in affected areas.

Karachi: PPP Chairperson announces relief for affected people

Pakistan Coast Guards set up camps in Gwadar and other coastal areas

Islamabad: PM Shaukat Aziz makes a personal donation

So far 60,000 feared killed and 250,000 people homeless

3000+ dead in Shaglah

Baagh and Rawalkot: Lack of supplies/emergency relief and medical assistance is causing deaths rapidly