As heavy rainfall subsided in quake-devastated Pakistan Monday, rescue workers stepped up their efforts to provide aid to survivors in remote areas, using any means available, DPA reported. In Chakothi on the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, 75 per cent of the formerly 50,000 strong population were feared killed in the disaster. The town was reached by Pakistani and U.S. helicopters Monday, nine days after the 7.6 magnitude quake. Regional premier Sardar Sikander Hayat told Pakistan's private GEO TV channel that the death toll in Kashmir had exceeded 40,000, with another 70,000 injured. Pakistani government officials spoke of 39,422 dead. The number of fatalities is likely to rise as many survivors have been left without shelter and with little food in near-freezing temperatures in the Himalayan mountain regions. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz appealed to the international community to donate at least 300,000 tents for the people in Kashmir after the first snowfall made the need for shelter even more urgent. Meanwhile, chief military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said eight field hospitals were operational in the affected regions while more sent by various countries would be set up in coming days. The government also announced it would erect a tent city with 1,000 tents in the garrison town of Rawalpindi over the next days to accommodate thousands of victims from northern Pakistan and Kashmir. Another tent city, comprising 90 tents for in total 1,200 people, has been set up in the Balakot region of the Northwestern Frontier Province, according to an army spokesman in Rawalpindi. As rescue efforts got a slight reprieve due to better weather, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the devastation caused by the earthquake exceeded that of last year's tsunami. WHO regional director Hussain A. Gezairy said the long-term problems would prove more difficult to deal with. "The number made homeless, the destruction of roads and infrastructure and the terrain over which the catastrophe has struck make this a bigger disaster than the tsunami," he said. The world community has pledged 528 million dollars for the affected regions, in addition to a 51-million-dollar commitment by the United Nations. The U.N. has already upped its appeal by 28 million dollars to 300 million dollars, saying that more funds will be needed over the next five to 10 years for reconstruction. --SP 2155 Local Time 1855 GMT
