Strong aftershock hits quake-stricken Pakistan

Islamabad, Nov 1 (PTI) A strong aftershock measuring
5.0-magnitude on Richter scale Saturday rattled southwestern
Pakistan, which was devastated by an earthquake that killed
over 300 people on Wednesday.

The metrological department said an aftershock
measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale struck near Ziarat and
Pishin districts in Balochistan province a little before 6
a.m. The aftershock damaged several houses though there were
no reports of casualties.

The aftershock struck an area where thousands of
people have been left homeless by Wednesday's massive
earthquake. It was also the second most powerful of the more
than 250 aftershocks recorded since Wednesday, officials said.

Aftershocks have added to the woes of the thousands of
people displaced and left without shelter by the temblor.
U.N.I.C.E.F. said the quake had affected some 108,000 people
in the worst-hit Ziarat and Pishin districts, 50 percent of
them children.

Almost 19,000 of the affected are children aged less
than five years, it said in a statement. "The numbers are
likely to increase with aftershocks and as relief teams gain
access to more remote areas," it added.

In many affected areas, homeless survivors spent a
third night out in the cold yesterday, grappling with freezing
temperatures. They complained that authorities were yet to
provide them with shelter and relief supplies. Reports
suggested that disease had begun to spread among the survivors
due to the extreme cold and lack of medicines.

Ziarat's health officer Ayub Kakar said hundreds of
children were being treated for pneumonia, abdominal diseases,
diarrhoea and chest problems. He said he feared the death toll
could rise if the diseases were not treated in time.

U.N.I.C.E.F. said as winter closed in, the most urgent
needs of the survivors are shelter, safe drinking water, food,
warm clothing and emergency medical aid. It said it urgently
needed five million dollars from donors to scale up its
emergency operations and to expand life-saving and
rehabilitation activities.

The U.N. body said "many roads are impassable,
healthcare centres have been destroyed, and food and water
supplies are at risk".

A priority for U.N.I.C.E.F. is ensuring the
availability of clean water as children are especially
vulnerable to diseases like diarrhoea and cholera.

"Most of the water sources in the affected districts
have been damaged by the earthquake. Approximately 12,000
people in Ziarat lack safe water and are dependent on supplies
from water trucks," U.N.I.C.E.F. said.

Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik, who today toured
the quake-hit areas, said relief and rehabilitation operations
were on in full swing. The federal government will provide
every possible help for relief and resettlement of the
victims, he said.

Fifteen helicopters and thousands of troops are
engaged in relief and rehabilitation operations. Ten thousands
packets of food have been sent to affected areas.

However, survivors in some remote villages told TV
channels today that they were yet to receive any relief
materials. They also said they had not seen any relief workers
in their areas. PTI RHL
PMR
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