Pakistan quake toll jumps to over 73,000

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan has dramatically increased the official death toll from the devastating earthquake that hit the north of the country last month to 73,276 and said it could rise further.

Federal Relief Commissioner Major-General Farooq Ahmed Khan said the sharp rise from a figure of 57,600 given a day earlier could be related to concerted efforts to clear debris since the October 8 disaster.

"Unfortunately the death toll has risen to 73,276 and the number of injured is over 69,000," he told a news conference. "There is a likelihood of a further increase."

Another 1,300 have been confirmed dead in Indian Kashmir.

Khan said those listed as injured were seriously hurt.

Pakistani Kashmir and adjoining North West Frontier Province bore the brunt of the 7.6 magnitude quake.

It was the strongest to hit South Asia in 100 years and left more than three million people in need of emergency shelter with a bitter Himalayan winter approaching.

Khan said the government had received around US$2 billion in pledges for the massive task of reconstruction, still way short of its cost estimate of more than US$5 billion.

Pakistan hope to raise more at a November 19. donors' conference to be attended by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The United Nations, heading a massive international relief effort, says donors have failed to provide sufficient funds for emergency aid work and warns that as many people who died in the quake could perish in the winter unless help reaches them fast.

Jakob Kellenberger, president of International Committee of the Red Cross, visited its emergency hospital in Muzaffarabad, the badly damaged capital of Pakistan Kashmir, and spoke of a race against the approaching winter.

He said the ICRC was assisting 10,000 people a day and hoped to cover the needs of 150,000 by the second half of November.

"The weather is really deteriorating and it's become much more difficult," he told reporters. "The good days are now really being used. We used the good weather as much as we can to reach places which cannot reach by road."

The UN Refugee agency said it had set up 12 camps for the homeless and more refugees were expected to head down from the mountains as the weather worsened. Its Pakistan Representative Guenet Guebre Christos appealed for donors to provide more cash.

"To prevent a second wave of winter-related deaths, we need more relief supplies and technical teams," she said.

HELICOPTERS BACK IN AIR

Because many roads are blocked by landslides, helicopters have been vital to the relief effort.

The US military resumed its relief flights on Wednesday, but said it steered clear of an area where it believes a rocket grenade was fired at one of its helicopters.

The Pakistani army called the incident close to Chakothi, a town near the border with Indian Kashmir, a misunderstanding caused by a US helicopter crew mistaking engineers blasting a damaged road as attackers.

But Commander Nick Balice, spokesman for the US military's Disaster Assistance Centre, said the helicopter crew, some of whom had served with the US forces fighting Islamic militants in Afghanistan, were familiar with rocket propelled grenade fire.

"Based on the reports we had from crew members that's what we think it was," he said. "We are staying a safe distance away from that area as we continue to investigate the incident."

The US Central Command said the CH-47 Chinook helicopter was not hit and landed safely. It has not said who it believes fired the rocket, but the area is one in which militant groups fighting Indian rule in disputed Kashmir operate.

The United States has 24 helicopters taking part in the relief effort, which includes others from several countries, including Britain and Japan, as well as some chartered by the United Nations and the Red Cross.

While militants in Kashmir are mainly focussed on fighting Indian forces on the other side of Kashmir, some have links with al Qaeda and share a similar, strongly anti-American world view.

They bitterly oppose the US military presence in neighbouring Afghanistan and Islamists in the Pakistani parliament have expressed opposition to US and NATO troops taking part in the relief operation.

Pakistan's army spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said the contribution of foreign countries was greatly appreciated and every effort was being made to ensure their safety.

- REUTERS