Snowcuts off quake-hit areas

HEAVY rain and snow buffeted Pakistan’s earthquake-hit areas for a second day yesterday, grounding helicopter aid flights and blocking roads as doctors reported increasing respiratory infections among survivors.

Aid workers have warned that cold weather in the Himalayan foothills, where temperatures have already fallen below freezing, may claim more lives after the October 8 quake left about 87,000 dead and 3.5 million homeless.

Poor visibility forced a suspension of flights by helicopters from the UN, foreign militaries and Pakistan’s army, which have been delivering winterised tents, clothes, food and other provisions to survivors, said Pakistani army spokesman Major Farooq Nasir.

“As long as the weather is bad, relief supplies will be affected because helicopters cannot fly,” he said.

He said the army will try using trucks to deliver relief goods, although mudslides and snow have made some roads impassable.

The road to the isolated Neelum Valley, which suffered heavy quake damage, was among those closed, he said.

There were conflicting reports about major roads leading to Muzaffarabad, the main city in the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir and supply centre for the quake relief operation. Nasir said they remained open, but aid workers said they were either blocked or hazardous.

Larry Hollingworth, the UN deputy humanitarian co-ordinator, said the harsh weather had forced 100 families to move from the mountains to a Mira camp near Battagram town in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province on Sunday.

He said tents were damp, and aid workers were distributing high-protein foods and warm clothes to children.

“It’s what we have been fearing all along,” Mr Hollingworth said. “The winter is now with us.”