The NWFP government seeks eight helicopters to dispatch relief goods and shift the injured into hospitals as the death toll climbed to 4,748 while 8970 injured in eleven districts of the province.
"The exact figure is much higher as we are giving only the number of recovered or confirmed deaths," said Asif Iqbal Daudzai, NWFP Minister for Information during a briefing at Provincial Crisis Management Cell (PCMC) here on Tuesday.
He said that death in the four worst hit districts of Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan, Shangla and Abbottabad was on rise as the rescuers were recovering more dead bodies from the debris of the collapsed buildings. The toll in Mansehra had reached to 3000 and 3005 injured while in Battagram the second worst hit district the number of deaths had reached to 800 with 4500 injured. In Shangla, the number of death casualties was increased to 289 and injured to 327 while in Abbottabad 515 bodies had already been recovered and 830 were being provided medical treatment at various hospitals.
"Frantic search for the survivors has been started and helicopters had made 15 sorties to the affected areas of Balakot, Battal, Ghari Habibullah, Battagram, Pattan, Oghi, Kaghan, Kawai, Shagram and Tandiani," the minister informed. He said that during relief operation 864 packets of the food and 221 tents had been provided. "The rescuers have also recovered 154 people from the rubbles of the buildings," he added.
Similarly, 8 trucks and 7 hi-luxes with tentage, foodstuff, blankets and other miscellaneous items were sent to villages in Balakot, Garhi Habibullah, Oghi and Battal. "Four charted aircraft are arriving from United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrying tents for the earthquake affectees of the province," said Daudzai.
The provincial government has established a Liaison Office in Islamabad to co-ordinate with federal government in connection with the supply of relief goods to the affected areas.
Daudzai demanded of the federal government to help ensure immediate dispatch of the foreign assistance to the affected areas.
Road-links have also been closed due to massive land sliding at Karakuram Highway, Mansehra-Naran road Balakot and Kaghan. Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and Works & Services Department of NWFP are making efforts to open them. "We still require heavy machinery to open roads to pave way for the recovery of the trapped people," he said.
He said persistent rains in the affected areas was creating hurdles in the rescue as well as the relief operations. "The frightened people are living under the open sky as thousands of the houses have been wiped out," the minister maintained and made a call to the federal government and donor agencies to send relief goods to them on emergency basis.
About foreign rescue teams, he informed that a Chinese team had been employed at Balakot, French team at Garhi Habibullah, Japanese at Battagram, Iranian at Kaghan, UAE at Mansehra while the 4-member evaluation team of Switzerland had been deployed in Mansehra.
For the provision of the treatment to the earthquake affectees, a team comprising of 19 surgeons, 45 nurses and 41 paramedics has also been dispatched to the affected areas while medical teams from Swat, D.I Khan, Mardan and Kohat have also been sent to the affected districts.
Similarly, 32 doctors from FATA and paramedical staff along with mobile hospital and mobile units are also busy in providing medical treatment. A 100-bed emergency treatment centre has also been established in Haripur.
"We have mobilised the EPI staff on emergency basis and vaccines of Cholera and other diseases have been collected from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to protect the spread of communicable diseases," informed NWFP Health Minister Inayatullah Khan. He said that for the protection of the people from Malaria a big spray machine had already been sent to the area while the anti-rabies vaccines had also been dispatched to the affected areas.
The provincial government has also sanctioned special beds for the earthquake victims in three teaching hospitals of the provincial metropolis. 200 beds have been sanctioned in Hayatabad Medical Complex, 100 in Lady Reading Hospital and 100 in Khyber Teaching Hospital to provide treatment to the affectees.
Both international and local agencies are busy in providing relief goods comprising medicines, surgical instruments, food items, tents and ambulances have also been dispatched towards the affected areas.
A convoy of Save the Children Fund (SCF) with 900 tents, 1000 family packs has also reached the affected areas. A plane loaded with food items for 5000 people and 5 truckloads of medicines are due on Wednesday. The USAID has sent 5000 blankets and 250 sheets.