More quake survivors seek shelter from winter

HUNDREDS more survivors of Pakistan’s huge earthquake sought treatment yesterday for weather- related ailments following a cold snap, hospital officials said.

The known death toll in northern Pakistan from the arrival of the brutal Himalayan winter stood at eight. Hospitals in the quake zone reported treating more than 700 people suffering from pneumonia, hypothermia and other illnesses, and said hundreds more had come in by early yesterday, though the weather was turning sunnier and warmer.

Doctors have said the situation could worsen in the coming weeks if arrangements are not made quickly to provide shelters equipped to deal with harsh winter conditions. Officials worry that a lack of sufficient shelters and aid could cause a second disaster for the 3.5 million people who lost their homes in the October earthquake that killed more than 87,000 people.

Mild aftershocks were felt in northwestern Pakistan, Islamabad and elsewhere today, but a magnitude was not immediately known.

Earlier, Mazhar Rashid Abbasi, an official with the Pakistani charity al-Khidmat Foundation, said it badly needs funds to winterise the nine tent camps that it is managing for quake victims in Kashmir and Pakistan.