MILLIONS OF SURVIVORS of Pakistan’s earthquake are facing the threat of a second catastrophe because the international relief operation is failing to reach many victims trapped in cold mountain areas without food, shelter or medical care.

With winter three weeks away and the worst affected areas of Kashmir drenched by heavy rains, aid workers said yesterday that many more could die from exposure or disease. The death toll stands at more than 30,000.

Yesterday the UN launched a “flash appeal” for £151 million to fund an emergency operation for the next six months to provide tents and blankets, food and medicines and, most important, the means to deliver the aid by air to otherwise inaccessible areas.

“It’s October, it’s very cold at night and there are entire villages flattened, so people have to sleep in the open. In addition there are many injured people, including children,” Ronald van Dijk, of the UN’s Children’s Fund in Pakistan, said.

The UN estimates that four million people have been affected by the earthquake. The Pakistani authorities said 2.5 million people were homeless. Eighty per cent of buildings and structures, including 1,000 hospitals, have been destroyed.

Many roads have been cut off by mudslides and rock falls. While aid is beginning to reach towns such as Muzaffarabad, the regional capital, hundreds of remote communities are only accessible by helicopter.

The US military has diverted five giant Chinooks and three Black Hawk helicopters from neighbouring Afghanistan. They will be reinforced by 24 more Chinooks as well as bulldozers and tractors. Nato forces are also sending troops from Afghanistan with 50 German soldiers already on the ground. Britain yesterday doubled its contribution, pledging £2.1 million.

The first US helicopters were flying an average of 80 sorties a day ferrying supplies to stricken areas and returning with casualties. However, heavy rains yesterday grounded all aircraft.

“It is a desperate situation,” said Leila Khan, of the International Rescue Committee. “It is bitterly cold, there was even snow on the mountains, and yet injured people are still lying out in the open waiting for help.”

Unlike other relief operations, such as the areas affected by the Boxing Day tsunami or the earthquake that destroyed the ancient Iranian city of Bam two years ago, the immediate problem is not in getting aid to Pakistan. UN agencies assisting Afghan refugees already have warehouses stored with supplies in the country.

But aid workers said yesterday that a bottleneck had developed in Islamabad, where the airport was too small to handle the volume of aid arriving.

An Indian plane carrying medicines, blankets and tents returned with its full load last night after being told that it had nowhere to park at Islamabad airport. It was to have been the first aid airlift between the two countries for decades.

Some have blamed the Pakistani authorities for poor coordination that may have cost lives. In the first 24 hours there was no serious effort to mobilise relief work. On Monday the Government belatedly appointed Major-General Mohammed Farooq to head the Federal Relief Commission to co-ordinate rescue efforts between foreign aid workers and thousands of Pakistani troops.

President Musharraf has appealed to the nation to remain calm and show patience. He rejected allegations that the authorities had been lax. “We are doing whatever is humanly possible,” he said.

Shaukat Aziz, the Prime Minister, said that the country has already received more than $300 million in foreign aid and another $600 million collected through public donations. In addition Kuwait and United Arab Emirates have each pledged $100 million.

The UN World Food Programme began a major airlift of emergency food supplies. The International Red Cross said it planned to provide emergency food and shelter to 120,000 vulnerable people stranded in the freezing weather.

Even outlawed Kashmiri militants have cast aside their weapons to join relief workers. Hundreds of guerrillas are thought to be among the 20,000 victims on the Pakistani side. The United Jihad Council, a loose alliance of pro-Pakistan militant outfits, yesterday announced a temporary truce in the Indian-controlled areas hit by the earthquake.

HOW TO HELP

Donations can be made through the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) website at www.dec.org.uk or by phone on 0870 6060 900

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