Fears of higher toll as Pakistan earthquake deaths rise to 73,276

PAKISTAN yesterday dramatically increased the official death toll from the devastating earthquake that hit the north of the country last month to 73,276 and said it could rise further.

Federal Relief Commissioner Major-General Farooq Ahmed Khan said the sharp rise from a figure of 57,600 given a day earlier could be related to concerted efforts to clear debris since the October 8 disaster.

“Unfortunately the death toll has risen to 73,276 and the number of injured is over 69,000,” he told a news conference.

Another 1,300 have been confirmed dead in Indian Kashmir.

Mr Khan said those listed as injured were seriously hurt.

Pakistani Kashmir and adjoining North West Frontier Province bore the brunt of the 7.6 magnitude quake.

It was the strongest to hit South Asia in 100 years and left more than three million people in need of emergency shelter with a bitter Himalayan winter approaching.

Mr Khan said the government had received around $2 billion in pledges for the massive task of reconstruction, still way short of its cost estimate of more than $5bn.

Pakistan hope to raise more at a November 19 donors’ conference to be attended by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The United Nations, heading a massive international relief effort, says donors have failed to provide sufficient funds for emergency aid work and warns that as many people who died in the quake could perish in the winter unless help reaches them fast.

Jakob Kellenberger, president of International Committee of the Red Cross, visited its emergency hospital in Muzaffarabad, the badly damaged capital of Pakistan Kashmir, and spoke of a race against the approaching winter.

The UN Refugee agency said it had set up 12 camps for the homeless and more refugees were expected to head down from the mountains as the weather worsened.

Because many roads are blocked by landslides, helicopters have been vital to the relief effort.

The US military resumed its relief flights yesterday, but said that it steered clear of an area where it believes a rocket grenade was fired at one of its helicopters on Tuesday.

The Pakistani army called the incident near the border with Indian Kashmir a misunderstanding caused by a US helicopter crew mistaking engineers blasting a damaged road as attackers.

While militants in Kashmir are mainly focused on fighting Indian forces on the other side of Kashmir, some have links with al-Qaida and share a similar, strongly anti-American world view.