Struggle to rescue avalanche victims in northwest

Bad weather is hampering rescue and relief efforts in a remote part of Kohistan District in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) after avalanches on 16 February left dozens dead and scores injured.



“Because the roads are cut off we have had to work to save people ourselves, with very few tools and no equipment,” Saifullah Muhammad, a local resident, told IRIN from Kohistan.



He blamed severe winter weather, inadequate roads and the lack of reliable means of electronic communication for the fact that many of the injured had still not been able to get to hospital.

 

According to a 20 February report by the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS), avalanches hit several villages in the Qandia valley area of Kohistan District in the union councils of Karang and Kareen.



Qandia valley is cut off from the rest of Kohistan because avalanches and landslides had blocked or damaged the main road, leaving people in the area vulnerable, it said.



“There is 5-7 feet [up to two metres] of snow surrounding our village,” Muhammad said, calling on the government and the humanitarian community to “help all the people here because many are injured, including women and children.”



Lt-Col Asif Ghafoor, in charge of rescue efforts being carried out from Puttan sub-district in the avalanche-hit area, told local media on 21 February that the confirmed death toll so far was 102.



Scores of critically injured people had been airlifted out, and helicopters had airdropped food and other essential items, like stoves, to about 250 families, he said.



kh/at/cb