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The hard climb for relief

Almost two weeks after the South Asian earthquake, a combination of logistical and other factors has hindered relief efforts, particularly in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which bore the brunt of the devastation. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, relief operations remain stuck largely in the life-saving mode, with the focus on immediate concerns such as reaching remote villages, treating the injured, and delivering food and other basic supplies. The Pakistan Government admitted a couple of days ago that help was still to reach one in five villages in the affected area. This is a region dotted with remote and far-flung hamlets and access to them has been rendered even more difficult because of damaged roads, landslides, and heavy rainfall. PoK officials recently claimed that the death toll in this region alone is "not less than 40,000" and an estimated two million have been rendered homeless. A more exact casualty figure and a better and more detailed assessment of the condition of the survivors will emerge only after Pakistani soldiers, relief workers, and volunteers are able to reach the areas that still remain cut off. To add to the gargantuan problem, the onset of the harsh Himalayan winter is only about a fortnight away; providing survivors with tents and blankets brooks no delay.

The magnitude of the tragedy in India, where over 1,300 people were killed and over one lakh left homeless, is by no means small. But it can hardly be compared with the scale of the devastation in Pakistan, where authorities now fear a second wave of deaths due to the difficulties in reaching survivors and treating the wounded. Relief operations have been more effective in Kashmir, where the affected area is smaller (Uri and Kupwara districts being the worst-affected) and where the Indian Army was able to swing quickly into action. As a result, New Delhi, unlike Islamabad, did not have to seek international aid; rather, it was able to offer assistance to Pakistan — a generous gesture made within hours of the earthquake striking the subcontinent. Islamabad has expressed its gratitude for receiving aid consignments of such relief materials as fortified biscuits, medicines, tents, blankets, and plastic sheeting. However political sensitivities in Pakistan, which President Musharraf would have found difficult to ignore, were behind its rejection of New Delhi's suggestion for joint relief operations and offer of helicopters manned by Indian military personnel. The Pakistan President's recent and dramatic suggestion of opening the Line of Control to allow people to cross over more easily should facilitate relief operations and family contacts. Kashmir may be a bitterly disputed region, but there are large numbers of families divided by the LoC. They need more than ever, in this hour of calamity and grief, to be given the opportunity to reconnect with each other and participate in the relief and reconstruction of a ravaged region.

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