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Pakistan: Earthquake turns Muzaffarabad into graveyard

By Imtiaz Gul
Muzaffarabad, Pakistan (dpa) - Littered with bodies and with an awful smell lingering, Muzafarrabad, the capital of Pakistan administered Kashmir, has turned into a rubble-covered graveyard.

The bustling city of more than 200,000 people was devastated by the strong earthquake that struck this northern mountainous region Saturday morning.

Of an estimated 40,000 fatalities, nearly 12,000 people have died in this city alone, and the count is not yet complete.

"Bodies are lying everywhere and we cannot compile them, so it is difficult to say how many people have been killed,'' said a military doctor who is looking after patients at the city's sports stadium, now turned into an open-air hospital.

The city's only health facility, the 400-bed Combined Military Hospital (CMH) was among the first to crumble to the ground after the earthquake, immediately killing over 200 hospitalized patients.

"That morning 256 beds were occupied and the medical staff was carrying out their first round at the ward when the quake occurred,'' said CMH Commandant Colonel Dr. Hanif Iqbal. "We counted 156 dead in the first hour.''

From the air, the entire city appears to have been flattened. There are no hospitals, electricity or running water as the 7.6 magnitude quake has destroyed or damaged every single structure.

The city's main jail is lying flat on the ground with all its inmates dead. Hundreds of students are feared buried alive in the wreckage of Muzaffarabad University.

"Kashmir has turned into a graveyard. We are digging either to pull out bodies or bury them,'' aregion's Prime Minister Sikandar Hayat Khan told reporters outside a tent where he has been staying since the calamity struck.

Television footage showed survivors frantically searching through the rubble of buildings searching for friends and relatives.

"I have found the body of my wife but my three children are still under the debris,'' said Muhammad Jalil, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Even those who have found bodies of their loved ones have little choice but to bury them in mass graves.

"I want to take the body of my mother to Manshera (a neighboring town, some 30 kilometers to the west) but there are no vehicles and those available are without petrol and diesel,'' Muhammad Zulifqar said, sitting beside a coffin covered with torn pieces of cloth.

Despite claims by the government of improving supplies to the affected areas, there are many localities inside Muzaffarabad with no food at all, and the city's administration is virtually non-existent.

Angry city residents, desperate for food and medicine, have been disrupting the orderly distribution of food aid to the city. "They start smashing windows and screen of the vehicles and take away relief goods the moment they arrive,'' said an eyewitness.

Chief military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said tons of relief goods and medicines have reached affected areas through 128 sorties flown by helicopters.

"But this is a disaster of enormous scale and we have to understand that. We have reached thousands of affectees but the reality is we have not reached thousands who are in the far-flung areas,'' he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Eight U.S. helicopters from Afghanistan's Bagram airbase joined relief operations Tuesday morning, carrying 30 tons of medicine and rations and ten tons of relief items into the northern areas.

"These (helicopters) were the biggest requirement. Although we have opened most of the roads, there are still many blocked because of the enormous scale of the disaster. Any number of helicopters would be welcomed,'' Sultan said. dpa ig aa jh

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