Post by Tulameen on Feb 25, 2005 11:00:13 GMT -5
Attempts to reach snow survivors
Soldiers and medical teams are trying to reach villagers cut off after weeks of heavy snow in Afghanistan and Indian-administered Kashmir.
The region has been hit by a series of snowstorms and avalanches in what is being described as the coldest winters in decades.
Several hundred people have died in both countries as well as in areas of Pakistan in the past few weeks.
But there are fears the toll could be higher, particularly in Afghanistan.
Police and officials in the district of Saghar in the central Afghan province of Ghor say that 300 people have died there because of the severe winter.
The BBC's Andrew North says there is no way of confirming the figures but adds that the district is completely cut off.
The road to Saghar is blocked by snow and food is said to be running out.
Children worst hit
Saghar has no doctor and is almost completely without medical help.
Officials say more than half of those who have died are children who have succumbed to pneumonia, whooping cough and measles.
"Some districts are still short of medicine and we cannot supply them with medicine because those districts are cut off due to heavy snow and the roads are still blocked," deputy governor of Ghor, Ikramuddin Rezaie, told AFP.
The US military has begun to drop tonnes of food over Saghar taken from World Food Programme stocks, using Black Hawk helicopters normally used to flush out Taleban and al Qaeda militants.
They say bad weather has prevented them from flying to the district until now.
On Thursday, WFP warned that Afghanistan faced potentially "catastrophic" floods once the snow melts.
Kashmir aid drop
In Indian-administered Kashmir, army medical teams have begun arriving in remote villages cut off for the past week, after a series of avalanches.
Indian army spokesman Lt Col VK Batra told the AFP news agency that the teams will "provide medical facilities to the injured and the survivors".
Six villages in the southern district of Anantnag have been completely buried under the snow after the avalanche crushed houses.
More than 230 people have died in Indian-administered Kashmir and thousands are still stranded along a key highway linking the state to the rest of India.
Officials say it could take up to three weeks to clear all the roads.
There are also fears of fresh avalanches in the southern districts of Anantnag, Doda and thingych.
Air force helicopters have been dropping food and medical supplies in affected areas for the past few days.
Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4297101.stm
Published: 2005/02/25 11:13:46 GMT
Soldiers and medical teams are trying to reach villagers cut off after weeks of heavy snow in Afghanistan and Indian-administered Kashmir.
The region has been hit by a series of snowstorms and avalanches in what is being described as the coldest winters in decades.
Several hundred people have died in both countries as well as in areas of Pakistan in the past few weeks.
But there are fears the toll could be higher, particularly in Afghanistan.
Police and officials in the district of Saghar in the central Afghan province of Ghor say that 300 people have died there because of the severe winter.
The BBC's Andrew North says there is no way of confirming the figures but adds that the district is completely cut off.
The road to Saghar is blocked by snow and food is said to be running out.
Children worst hit
Saghar has no doctor and is almost completely without medical help.
Officials say more than half of those who have died are children who have succumbed to pneumonia, whooping cough and measles.
"Some districts are still short of medicine and we cannot supply them with medicine because those districts are cut off due to heavy snow and the roads are still blocked," deputy governor of Ghor, Ikramuddin Rezaie, told AFP.
The US military has begun to drop tonnes of food over Saghar taken from World Food Programme stocks, using Black Hawk helicopters normally used to flush out Taleban and al Qaeda militants.
They say bad weather has prevented them from flying to the district until now.
On Thursday, WFP warned that Afghanistan faced potentially "catastrophic" floods once the snow melts.
Kashmir aid drop
In Indian-administered Kashmir, army medical teams have begun arriving in remote villages cut off for the past week, after a series of avalanches.
Indian army spokesman Lt Col VK Batra told the AFP news agency that the teams will "provide medical facilities to the injured and the survivors".
Six villages in the southern district of Anantnag have been completely buried under the snow after the avalanche crushed houses.
More than 230 people have died in Indian-administered Kashmir and thousands are still stranded along a key highway linking the state to the rest of India.
Officials say it could take up to three weeks to clear all the roads.
There are also fears of fresh avalanches in the southern districts of Anantnag, Doda and thingych.
Air force helicopters have been dropping food and medical supplies in affected areas for the past few days.
Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4297101.stm
Published: 2005/02/25 11:13:46 GMT