& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Hope fades for remote quake victims: UN

Millions homeless

Afp, Ap, Islamabad/ Geneva
Veteran UN relief experts say there is little hope of those still trapped under the rubble of their earthquake-flattened houses in remote areas of Pakistan surviving until rescuers can reach them.
"Some areas have not yet even been reached or assessed," Gerhard Putman-Cramer, head of the UN's Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team told AFP in Islamabad.
Putman-Cramer and six other UNDAC members arrived Sunday in the Pakistani capital to spearhead the UN's relief efforts in the wake of Saturday's devastating earthquake, which has killed almost 20,000 people in Pakistan.
"The urgent need is now for helicopters," said Putman-Cramer. "Road
transport is a real headache for everybody."
He said trucks and heavy equipment needed in relief and rescue operations had been flown into Islamabad from countries such as Turkey and France.
But because roads have been blocked by landslides, the equipment could not be shifted to areas in need, he said.
"It's not only rescue work that is being affected, we have to start relief efforts as well. There's a huge need for field hospitals, water, sanitation and for food."
More than 2.5 million people have been left homeless by the devastating 7.6-magnitude earthquake that shook Pakistan and India, a United Nations official said Sunday.
According to the UN team at the site, "at least 2.5 million people are in need of shelter," said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswomen for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Relief.
Pakistan said nearly 20,000 people were killed in Saturday's 7.6-magnitude quake, with the worst hit areas in North West Frontier Province and the Pakistani controlled area of the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Swiss national Alain Pasche, a member of Putman-Cramer's team who also helped coordinate relief efforts after the 2003 earthquake in Bam, Iran that killed some 26,000 people, said time was running out.
If trapped in concrete and steel buildings like those constructed in big cities, people had a chance of surviving
for three to four days if they were mercifully caught in a "pocket," said Pasche.
The houses in Kashmir, however, are similar to those in Bam -- block buildings that are quickly reduced to rubble by a large quake.
"In these cases, if you're outside you're alive. If you're inside you're dead," he said.
In a statement issued in Islamabad, the United Nations said that as an immediate measure, UN agencies in Pakistan had begun transporting small amounts of relief items such as blankets, tents, medicine kits, food, water purification tablets and water containers.