Good weather brings blessed relief to survivors of earthquake

PAKISTAN: Good weather has blessed earthquake relief efforts in Pakistan, allowing more vital supplies to be channelled up the…

PAKISTAN: Good weather has blessed earthquake relief efforts in Pakistan, allowing more vital supplies to be channelled up the mountains than hoped, but no one is expecting the sunshine to last.

We were expecting December to be harsh," UN chief of relief operations Andrew Macleod said yesterday on a mild, sunny day in Muzaffarabad, the hub of the relief effort. "By the grace of God, it hasn't been. January and February will be."

Snow has fallen on the mountain peaks and in some high altitude villages in recent weeks, but the weather has generally been clear and dry and without harsh cold spells.

The October 8th earthquake in Pakistan killed more than 73,000 people and left three million homeless.

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The Pakistani military and the international aid community have been rushing to help survivors, most of whom have stayed to try and rebuild their ruined homes in the mountains.

Bad weather could bring the whole relief operation to a halt, grounding helicopters and making many roads too dangerous to use, before survivors have proper shelter or sufficient food.

So far, the mild weather and dry roads have enabled food to get in to difficult areas and many more survivors to build basic shelters, while only one full day of aid flights has been lost to bad weather.

"Had the winter set in when it was supposed to have, we would have had enormous problems with food come February," Mr Macleod said. "The extra time has allowed a lot more to get done. We've had an extra four weeks of shelter rebuilds."

The UN says most of an estimated 500,000 people living above 1,500 metres (5,000ft) have sufficient shelter and supplies to survive. Now efforts are focusing on the almost two million people below that altitude who need help.

Tens of thousands of people are living in tented camps where the good weather has also helped to prevent diseases breaking out and sweeping through the packed settlements.

Though the worst fears of a second wave of death among sick, hungry and cold survivors have not materialised, Macleod cautioned against being complacent.

Last year's snows were the heaviest in years, the worst of it falling late in the winter. With that in mind, the World Food Programme is moving food into storage in the mountains before the weather cuts supply lines and the agency thinks it should be able to keep about one million people supplied.

"I think the worst is still to come," said Dina Jerkovich, who runs the WFP operation in Muzaffarabad."We've been lucky." - (Reuters)