Kashmir Earthquake

Apparently there was a large aftershock today, measuring larger than 6 on the richter scale.

theres been quite a few aftershocks for some time actually

many today are bieng felt in Abbotobaad (?) to name a few places

Actually the earthquake today measure 5.9 on richter scale and was felt in sooba sarhad (particularly zillah mansehra), azad kashmir and also islamabad.

Minhaj Welfare Foundation (MWF):

The 3 Hours LIVE appeal will be on DM Digital TV (Channel no 841 on Sky Digital) on the 24th of October 2005 at following time:

U.K Time 03:00 P.M to 05:30 P.M
EUROPE Time 04:00 P.M to 06:30 P.M
PAKISTAN Time 07:00 P.M to 09:30 P.M

Appeal will also continue after Namaz-e-Taraweeh:
U.K Time 09:30 P.M to 01:00 A.M
EUROPE Time 10:30 P.M to 2:00 A.M
PAKISTAN Time 01:30 A.M to 5:00 A.M

For daily updates on the work of MWF for those who have suffered from this trajedy please visit:

http://welfare.minhaj.org/en/contents.minhaj?category=news&id=71&e=1130…

Resilience among ruins of Muzaffarabad

The city bazaar is returning to a kind of normality
Nearly three weeks after being flattened by the killer earthquake, Muzaffarabad is still littered with signs of destruction.

Collapsed buildings, broken roads, badly damaged houses and, in some areas, row upon row of tents inhabited by those displaced by the earthquake.

What seems to have changed from the initial days, though, in the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir is the body language of the residents.

No longer can one see people floating around aimlessly, looking dazed and uncomprehending.

'Still terrified'

Most seem to have shaken off the shock and now look fiercely determined to make the most of what they have been left with - unlike rural areas where the situation remains unremittingly grim.

"I am still terrified of being under a roof," says Abdul Hameed, a barber in Muzaffarabad.

"But I will not leave.

"This is my home. This is where I was born and this is where I will rebuild my life."

The barber's is one of the several shops to have reopened in the city's main bazaar on Bank road this week.

Most of these are grocery shops, bakers, cloth and general merchants and call centres.

Banks, too, have started operations restoring the badly-needed cash flow to locals.

The shops are well stocked and most items of daily use from bottled water to sachets of soup are available here.

Business, say shopkeepers, is brisk.

Grocer Zubair Samad explains: "Many of the victims were well-to-do people. They hated the idea of running after relief trucks or standing in line outside NGO-run camps for food. They'd much rather buy what they need."

Toll of destruction

Brig Maqsood Ahmed, who is in charge of the army's relief operations, says: "I think the way people of this city have pulled themselves together is simply magnificent.

"I think the magnitude of this disaster has still not been properly understood outside the affected areas, which makes the people's spirit all the more remarkable."

Farooq Haider, an adviser to the local government, has been collecting data on deaths and destruction across Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

"Up to today [27 October], we have been able to confirm 43,363 deaths and 30,967 serious injuries in Kashmir," he says.

"This figure is likely to go up as there are still several villages we have not been able to reach as yet."

The damage to housing, he says, has been just as extensive.

Nearly 60,000 brick houses and 115,000 mud houses have collapsed completely. About 70,000 have been left unusable.

More than 6,000 shops, over 150 health facilities and about 350 government buildings have been completely destroyed.

Government officials say it may still be several weeks before they can put out final figures.

"But whatever the final figure, it is bound to be more than what we have at the moment," Farooq Haider says.

Safe structures

For those determined to get on with their lives, there is little help from the official quarters at this stage.

The international community is still criticised for being tight-fisted and there are indications that the massive aid effort that the quake triggered within Pakistan is also running out of steam.

Aid agencies say there are visible signs of donor fatigue creeping in while a substantial part of the aid already sent to the affected areas has turned out to be a waste.

All around the civil secretariat in Muzaffarabad, one can see heaps of old clothes that have been sent - most of them not suited to the mountain cold.

In fact, so abundant are the piles of useless garments people are using them on fires to keep warm.

Many disgusted Kashmiris say they felt like beggars when they saw the kind of "aid" that had been sent from Pakistan.

What they would like instead, they say, is information.

"The government said it would carry out a seismic survey of the entire region and suggest safe materials and architecture," says Arshad Mahmood from the Allama Iqbal Open University.

"We are still waiting."

Most people in Muzaffarabad seem hungry for some hint of what the government is planning for them.

More than anything else, they want to know when and how to rebuild their homes. And to what extent, if at all, the government will help.

But there is little, it seems, that the government can tell them at this stage.

Compensation

With only a fraction of the required funds promised by the world so far, Pakistan seems reluctant to make any expensive commitments.

Already, it has had to revise its "compensation" for the victims downwards.

The chief secretary of Pakistan-administered Kashmir had initially promised 100,000 rupees (about $1,660) per victim.

But earlier this week, the first instalment of cash compensation was doled out on the basis of 100,000 rupees per family.

Needless to say, many families have lost a number of members and the unannounced change in the compensation formula has left most of them even more uncertain of their future.

"How can we trust anyone?" asks bus driver Hussain Kiyani.

"Whatever we need to do, we have to do it ourselves. And we will."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4385234.stm

Very apalling and saddening to say the least, but Alhamdulillah the brave who survived are showing thier strength and character. May Allah swt reward them and ease thier suffering. Ameen

im not sure but arent the signs of judgement day

Pakistan postpones F-16 purchases

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf says he will postpone the purchase of F-16 fighter planes from the US.

He said Pakistan needed to focus on reconstruction in the wake of the quake that killed more than 70,000 people.

Pakistan had been expected to buy more than 50 planes at up to $40m each. Quake reconstruction is put at $5bn.

The president also accused the West of double standards when it came to giving aid for the earthquake victims, saying they had not given enough.

President Musharraf made his announcement on the F-16 purchase after touring a US army field hospital in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

"I am going to postpone that... we want to bring maximum relief and reconstruction efforts," he said.

Pakistan has long sought the jets but the US only approved the sale in March after years of sanctions concerning Islamabad's nuclear programme.

The F-16 deal has been controversial because long-term rival India believes it will upset the regional balance of power.

Pakistan already has about 30 F-16s, delivered before the US embargo was imposed in 1990, but was anxious to increase its fleet.

India has criticised the sales, saying they will hinder its own peace moves with Pakistan.

Since last year, the nations have been involved in a peace dialogue aimed at resolving the dispute over the divided region of Kashmir, the cause of two conflicts and which both countries claim in its entirety.

'Nightmare'

Separately, President Musharraf told the BBC in an interview that Pakistan needed more Western aid to rebuild in the aftermath of the quake.

Gen Musharraf accused the world of double standards, saying Pakistan had not received the level of aid given after Hurricane Katrina or the tsunami.

Speaking to the BBC ahead of a donors' conference to raise money for reconstruction, Gen Musharraf called on the international community, the Muslim world and ordinary Pakistanis to give generously.

He also suggested that donations from the West were low because few Western nationals were caught up in the earthquake.

"I would say the damage here is much more [than the tsunami], the magnitude of the calamity here is much more," Gen Musharraf said.

Jan Egeland, the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator, described the needs in Pakistani Kashmir as "unique", and called for an aid boost before winter sets in.

Mr Egeland said the UN had received $130m (£74m) in donations, but more was urgently needed.

"If people are dead by next year, reconstruction is of no use," he said.

"I've never seen this kind of a logistical nightmare before. We have 15,000 devastated villages."

BBC News

Cometh the hour, cometh the leader.

Nice to see he has his priorities in the right place. And has also managed to critices us for our lack of aid. (Like it or not, we are a art of 'the west', even if we have tried to help...)

On a second note, I went to an interview during ramadan, and the pkace had raised over 4k. they onky had about 8 staff. Apparently some had given their full wage. (and some people native to the uk had refused to make any donations, and the place was kicking of a bit about that... but raising 4k between about 80 workers! they were just gripping anyone to make sure they got a donation... but hey, it worked!)

Winter warning over quake tents

Most of the tents given to survivors of the South Asia earthquake in October are not designed for winter conditions, a leading aid agency says.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says the issue of shelter "is becoming more critical".

About three million people lost their homes in the quake which Pakistan says left some 73,000 dead.

The IOM is leading the operation to distribute emergency shelter to the survivors of the disaster.

'Expensive'

Relief organisations have long been appealing for 'winterised' tents designed to withstand the cold of a Himalayan winter.

The IOM is working alongside the United Nations and other organisations in the earthquake zone.

IOM spokesman Darren Boisvert said he had earlier believed that three-quarters of the tents given out were not winterised.

But on Friday he told journalists in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad: "The latest is that 90% of tents are not winterised.

"Winterised tents are expensive, they are hard to procure and must be shipped from overseas."

But the UN official with overall responsibility for the relief effort said that did not mean that the non-winterised tents were not adequate.

Jan Vandemoortele said people could still use blankets and tarpaulins to provide extra protection.

"When we say that 90% of tents are not winterised, it does not mean that they are inadequate, the proportion of tents that is not adequate is much, much smaller," he said.

Mr Vandemoortele warned that "the situation remains very difficult. We are on a knife's edge."

He said the biggest problems for relief workers were not the cold conditions but "complacency and pessimism".

'Sticking to plans'

Nato troops have been making a substantial contribution to the relief efforts.

However, Pakistan said on Thursday that it would not be asking Nato to extend its commitment once its initial mission expires.

"We are sticking to our plans," a foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

Nato says an exact date for its troops to withdraw will be decided next week. Reports suggest it will be in January or February.

International donors have pledged some $5.4bn (£3.14bn) to help Pakistan recover from the earthquake, the government says.

Many of the pledges are in the form of low interest loans.

The authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir say some 1,400 people there were killed by the earthquake.

BBC News

have there just been more earthquakes in pakiland?

I think so... 6.7 Just now?

you askin me or telling me? i just heard

im i mistaken for afghanistan?

Afghanistan hit by strong quake

A strong earthquake has hit north-eastern Afghanistan, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said.

The tremor of 6.7 magnitude struck the mountainous Hindu Kush region bordering Pakistan early on Tuesday, it said.

Residents in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where tens of thousands died in October's earthquake, fled their homes, reports say.

The tremor was also felt in India's capital, Delhi. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The earthquake occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning about 230km (145 miles) deep in the earth's crust, the USGS said.

"The deeper an earthquake is the less likely it is to cause damage. This quake... is not likely to cause too much damage although it is possible," USGS's Don Blakeman told the BBC.

The tremor was felt in several Pakistan's cities, including Muzaffarabad and Balakot, that were devastated by the 8 October earthquake, local television reported.

"It was very strong. It was very scaring. Many people living in old houses fled from their homes," Mohammad Alim from Pakistan's border town of Peshawar told Reuters news agency.

More than 73,000 people were killed in the October earthquake which left at least three million people homeless, according to officials in Pakistan.

BBC News

3am local time...

Kashmir race to survivors: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/12/AR20051…