The sufferings of survivors continue one month after the magnitude-7.6 earthquake ravaged northern Pakistan on Oct. 8. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has called the quake "a huge, huge disaster -- perhaps the biggest we have ever seen." But it is never too late for other nations and peoples to put their sympathy into action and to do what they can for the relief of quake victims.
Last week, Pakistan's top relief official, Maj. Gen. Farooq Ahmed Khan, announced that the official death toll had reached more than 73,000. Local officials suspect that at least 79,000 have died. An additional 1,350 people died in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir. More than 69,000 people are said to have suffered serious injuries. The real number of people suffering from injuries must be much higher.
The earthquake is reported to have left some 3.3 million people homeless, many of them children. Tents are in short supply, and an estimated 800,000 survivors, many of them living in remote mountainous areas, are said to still lack basic shelter. As winter approaches, relief operations are racing against time. During winter, an estimated 5.5 meters of snow is forecast to fall in the devastated region. It is feared that thousands more victims could die from diarrhea, untreated injuries and diseases, including tetanus, if aid does not reach them in time.