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Heavy rain, snow lash Pakistan quake zone
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-02 10:36
Last month, seven people, including four children, died in a similar
accident, and U.N. officials said they had started teaching people how to make
safe fires.
In Muzaffarabad and nearby areas, survivors said the rain and snow were
making their lives miserable.
Sajjad Ali Shah, a 38-year-old at a damp, riverside camp in Muzaffarabad,
said people had dug drains around their tents to keep out rainwater, but the
ground had become soaked.
"We wrap our children in blankets, but it is very cold," he said.
In snow-covered Sudhan Gali, a high mountain village south of Muzaffarabad,
Shabbir Ahmed Khan expressed fear that canvas tents might not be able to
withstand the weather.
"Our houses have been destroyed in the earthquake and these tents are not
sufficient to protect us from snow. There is no place where we can hide
ourselves," said Khan, a former soldier. "We need steel sheets for shelter. Our
children are shivering with cold."
Ithar Jan Bibi, a woman in another village near Muzaffarabad, said she was
running out of food that aid workers distribute every 15 days, and she was not
sure whether the next handout would arrive on time because of the bad weather.
"I cannot make fire in the tent and I do not have dry wood to burn," she
said. "It is impossible to fetch water in the snow."
Maj. Farooq Nasir, an army spokesman in Muzaffarabad, said army engineers
would keep roads open when bad weather grounds helicopters.
The army said it has stored seven days of food supplies at 16 emergency
supply bases in areas likely to be cut off by heavy snow.
The Pakistani-administered part of Kashmir suffered the most casualties from
the quake. India controls the other part of the divided territory, but both
countries claim it in its entirety.
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