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Many of the people left homeless by the quake need gas, kerosene and efficient wood stoves to cook and stave off the cold, Vandemoortele said.
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MUZAFFARABAD,
November 5, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The United
Nations warned Saturday, November 5, that Pakistanis who survived last
month's battering quake urgently need heating to get through the
winter alive.
"We
have to focus now on the next big problem which will be heating,"
Jan Vandemoortele, the United Nations Emergency Coordinator in
Pakistan, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"We
have been talking a lot about shelter and tents, and this has resulted
in good action on the ground. But heating has not been very
visible," he added.
The
Pakistani Meteorological Department warned on its Web site of
widespread snow next week in mountains and valleys over 5,000 feet
(1,524 meters), which includes towns and villages in the hills around
Muzaffarabad, the devastated capital of Pakistani Kashmir, and around
the destroyed city of Balakot in northern Pakistan.
Temperatures
could drop to minus 12 Celsius (10 F) in the highest settlements, it
added.
Snows
have already coated some mountaintops but they are mainly above 11,000
feet and are barely inhabited.
A
massive quake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter Scale, has killed some
73,000 in Pakistani-administered Kashmir and neighboring northern
towns.
The
quake, the worst natural disaster in Pakistan's history, has left more
than 3.5 million people homeless.
Over
the past four weeks, aid officials have repeatedly warned of a second
wave of deaths when the Himalayan winter begins.
Urgently
Needed
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Kashmiri quake survivors climb on a steep mountain path near the Neelum Valley road, heavily damaged by the quake. (Reuters).
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Many
of the people left homeless by the quake need gas, kerosene and
efficient wood stoves to cook and stave off the cold, Vandemoortele
said.
He
stressed that aid workers need to get "everything we can possibly
lay our hands on".
The
UN official hailed Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's decision to
delay the purchase of US-built F-16 jet fighters, saying it will free
up money for aid.
But
underlined, however, that the world still needs to donate more.
The
United Nations has launched an emergency appeal for 550 million
dollars but has only received 135 million so far, which may not be
enough to keep UN aid helicopters in the air.
Touring
Muzaffarabad on Friday, Musharraf accused the West of double standards
for failing to meet the country's quake aid needs, saying it was more
interested in the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina in the
US.
Army
Brigadier Ghazanfar Ali told AFP in Muzaffarabad that more people
could die if the need for heating is not addressed quickly.
"There
is less awareness about the heating requirement but many of the areas
receive huge snowfall and are at more than 5,000 feet altitude so this
is one of the urgent requirements," he said.
"We
need at least 200,000 oil heaters which will provide respite to the
survivors for the time being. Pakistan and the international community
should pay immediate attention or the survivors may die of harsh
weather."
The
World Health Organization said the largest number of patients being
brought into clinics were already those suffering from acute
respiratory infections like pneumonia.
"It
will be a problem because if people are living in cold weather with
inadequate food supplies they are more susceptible to illness,"
spokeswoman Rachel Lavy said.
Aid
agencies are still racing against time to get relief supplies to the
most remote mountain hamlets hit by the quake, some of which have
still not had any aid because they are too difficult to get to.
British
charity Oxfam warned that squalid conditions and disease in camps
could kill thousands more people, far exceeding the toll in villages
that have been the focus so far.
The
disaster has cast a pall over `Eid Al-Fitr which starts Friday,
November 4, in the Muslim country and the festive mood was overtaken
by the tragedy.
