Chopper relief drops not reaching victims

Helicopters have been crucial to relief operations in remote mountain areas devastated by the 8 October earthquake - but the supply drops are often not reaching victims. “The helicopters dropped many packages and bags but most dropped deep into the ravine where we could not reach them,” said Azizuddin, 48, a villager from the Allai area of Battagram district, many parts of which have still to be reached by aid workers. He travelled to Abbottabad, almost 200 km away in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), seeking food and warm clothing for his family. “We waited for over a week, hungry and cold, but no aid was delivered,” he said. Whereas military teams with relief goods loaded on mules have been able to enter some areas – often after arduous 12-hour treks - other survivors living higher up the rugged mountains still cannot be reached by road 11 days after the disaster and are dependent on air drops. “The helicopters are dropping many supplies and hundreds of bags of food goods and blankets etc. But because of the height from which they are being dropped, many items, carried away by the wind currents, fall down the steep mountainsides, or else, the bags burst, spilling flour, rice and other items,” said Muhammad Ilyas, a relief worker with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), who a few days ago visited some of the more remote areas of Battagram district. Bad weather has added to the perils faced by helicopter crews. Six Pakistan military personnel were killed five days ago when their helicopter crashed in bad weather in the Neelum Valley in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Military officers based in the Battagram district to oversee relief efforts said the narrowness of many of the mountain valleys made it difficult for aircraft, creating problematic wind channels. Work on re-opening roads and bridges has continued around the clock but for now, helicopters remain a key means of delivering supplies. The Pakistan government has said it needs more helicopters to effectively deliver aid, while UN relief commissioner Jan Egeland recommended on his visit to quake-hit areas the existing fleet be tripled. US Chinooks from air bases in neighbouring Afghanistan have joined the relief effort and more of the giant helicopters are being sent to their Chaklala Airbase in Rawalpindi. Relief workers who have visited the isolated mountain areas where relief is most urgently needed said problems were created when a crowd gathered below a hovering chopper. “This makes it impossible for the helicopters to drop supplies, as the parcels could hit people below and cause serious injury or even death,” German aid worker Martin Bremmer said. Despite these difficulties, hundreds of people each day turn their gazes to the skies, hoping helicopters will deliver the aid they desperately need to survive. Allai villager Azizuddin warned: “All that [aid delivery] must be done before winter. There is no time left and thousands in mountain villages still lack basic food items, clothes and shelter. Without these things we will die once the snows begin to fall, and no one will be able to reach us then.”