Kashmir quake toll rises

8 Nov 2005, 12:00 am
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A tent city on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir (pic: AAP)

A tent city on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir (pic: AAP)

The death toll in the Kashmir earthquake jumped to 87,350 after a new count of the dead in Pakistan, up from earlier estimates of 74,000.

The death toll in the Kashmir earthquake jumped to 87,350 after a new count of the dead in Pakistan, up from earlier estimates of 74,000.

The increase, announced by the Pakistani government, is based on a review by international donors who visited quake-stricken areas.

"But this is not a confirmed death toll, it is based just on their assessments," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's adviser on finance, Salman Shah, told AFP.

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank headed the assessment, working with local governments and aid agencies.

Pakistan's official toll jumped to 86,000, and India has reported 1,350 deaths.

Pakistan Finance Ministry official Iqbal Ahmed Khan said the new Pakistani toll came as more bodies were recovered from debris in the quake zone as teams reached areas previously inaccessible due to landslides unleashed by the quake and hundreds of aftershocks.

"There is a likelihood that this may increase," said Mr Khan.

The UN has stepped up its appeals for more money to help victims of the October 8 quake, the epicentre of which was in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and is urging donors to be as generous as with other recent disasters.

It said US$42.4 million (A$58m) is urgently needed to keep aid supplies continuing throughout November.

"What is particularly difficult in Kashmir is that people (will) freeze to death if they don't get assistance in weeks," UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said in New York.

"It's even more urgent than it was in these other hurricanes or tsunamis."

The World Health Organisation said there will not be enough shelter in the coming winter for about three million people who have been left homeless.

About 334,000 tents have been delivered to quake-affected areas, but the UN said double that is needed.

"There is just not going to be enough shelter for all the homeless," said the WHO's Sacha Bootsma.

"People will simply freeze to death."

There are also fears that disease will break out in the camps, causing the death toll to rise yet further.

Already, dozens of people have died from acute diarrhoea, tetanus and measles, and winter could bring hypothermia, pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses.

Aid workers said many tent camps set up in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern Pakistan to house those left homeless lack adequate clean water and sanitation.

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