Cracks are seen on the road after an earthquake in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. - REUTERS
LONDON (AP):
GOVERNMENTS AND aid agencies around the globe deployed emergency rescue and medical teams, pledged money and sent aid and condolences to earthquake-ravaged Pakistan yesterday as the country's President General Pervez Musharraf appealed to the world for help.
The 7.6-magnitude quake on Saturday in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir killed more than 30,000 people, mostly in Pakistan-controlled territory in the volatile region. India also reported several hundred deaths, and Afghanistan said one girl was killed.
Musharraf said Pakistan needed medicine, tents, cargo helicopters and financial assistance to help survivors, the news agency Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
NEED FINANCIAL SUPPORT
"We do seek international assistance. We have enough manpower, but we need financial support," Musharraf said.
Asian Development Bank president Haruhiko Kuroda said the bank would reallocate US$10 million from ongoing projects for immediate emergency assistance in the worst-affected areas of Pakistan.
The European Union yesterday committed 3.6 million euros (US$4.4 million) in primary emergency relief.
"We have a duty to get help as quickly as possible to the people whose lives have been turned upside down," EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said. "Europe's solidarity with the countries and people who have been struck by this tragedy is concretely reflected in our prompt decision to release humanitarian funds."
PLEDGES MADE
The United States and the governments of Japan, Thailand, Germany, Britain, the Czech Republic, and Australia yesterday pledged US$2.46 million in aid. China has promised US$6.2 million, according to Islamabad.
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said it would provide US$100,000 in emergency relief funds, and that the U.S. military had offered to help.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw pledged 100,000 pounds (US$176,150) and said the government planned to send 60 medics, emergency workers and foreign office staff.
Many countries quickly assembled aid and readied it for transport to the mountainous region, where landslides are reported to be making access extremely difficult.
Some teams had already reached Pakistan yesterday, including the first contingent of a British emergency rescue team and a United Nations team of top disaster coordination officials who set up three emergency centres to coordinate relief efforts.
"We have to be quick," said U.N. spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs.
A Spanish group, United Firefighters without Frontiers, said its rescue team had already arrived in Islamabad with two large field hospitals and two tons of emergency equipment.
"We have sent 21 specialists in search, rescue and emergency medical attention of victims, as well as seven rescue dogs," said Enrique Fernandez, director of operations.
