Mark's Notebook

Bitter Cold, Snow Blocking Relief Supplies in Kashmir

Washington Post

By Zarar Khan, Associated Press

Shivering with cold and beating the snow off their fragile tents with sticks, earthquake survivors struggled Monday to keep their children warm as the bitter winter hit Kashmir, grounding helicopter aid flights and blocking roads for the second straight day.

Dozens of tents, including ones housing a school and a mosque, collapsed under the weight of 10 inches of snow that blanketed the village of Mira Tanolian, about four miles south of Muzaffarabad. The settlement lies amid the ruins of houses destroyed by the Oct. 8 temblor that killed at least 73,000 people and left 3.5 million homeless.

The Pakistan meteorological office forecast continued rain and snow for the next two days and low temperatures of 21 degrees Fahrenheit in the plains and 7 degrees Fahrenheit above 5,000 feet. According to the meteorological office, Kashmir and northwestern Pakistan have had at least two feet of snow since Saturday evening.

For the second straight day, helicopters from the United Nations, foreign militaries and Pakistan's army were not able to deliver winterized tents, clothes, food and other provisions in the quake zone because of poor visibility, said Maj. Farooq Nasir, an army spokesman. They were trying to move supplies by truck, but mudslides and snow have also made some roads impassable, he said.

"It's what we have been fearing all along," Larry Hollingworth, the U.N. deputy humanitarian coordinator said by phone from Battagram. "The winter is now with us."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010201773.
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Last updated Tuesday 13 May 2008