WAM, Oct 31: Over 70,000 people, including 30,000 children, have been left homeless in quake-hit Balochistan, Unicef said on Friday, as health workers warned that deadly diseases were spreading.

The UN children’s agency said it and Pakistani government officials assessed the situation in the worst-hit districts of the province and were “concerned about the urgent needs of children and women”.

Over 270 people are thought to have been killed in the 6.4-magnitude quake which struck before dawn on Wednesday.

“With winter closing in, the most urgent needs of the survivors are shelter, safe drinking water, food, warm clothing and emergency medical assistance,” the world body said in a statement.

Clean water was a “priority” and Unicef teams had started providing water and sanitation services, and food supplements for pregnant women and young children, it said.

“Children are especially vulnerable to diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera. Most of the water sources in the affected districts have been damaged by the earthquake. Approximately 12,000 people in Ziarat lack safe water and are dependent on supplies from water trucks,” it added.

Ziarat district health officer Ayub Kakar told AFP that children were already suffering after two nights in the open in sub-zero temperatures.

“Due to the cold hundreds of children are being treated for pneumonia, abdominal diseases, diarrhoea and chest problems,” he said.

“We fear the death toll will rise. Such diseases, if not treated in time, are life-threatening,” Mr Kakar said.

Tents, blankets, clothes, medicine and antibiotics were still in short supply, he said. Many people in outlying villages have expressed concern that they have gone without help more than two days after the disaster.

“Our children are dying, help us,” cried Mohammad Khan, in the village of Khanozai high in the mountains.

Mr Kakar said children formed the majority of the population in the quake-affected area and many of them were psychologically affected by the tremors and violent aftershocks that continued to pound the region.

Women were also not getting medical treatment because of deeply conservative traditions and the fact that hospitals were also hit.

Doctors said they were running out of drugs and artificial limbs for victims of the earthquake.

At a small clinic in the devastated village of Kawas, Dr Nek Mohammed said he had treated 300 minors since Thursday and that he hoped medicine would arrive soon.

“Most of them are developing the symptoms of pneumonia and that is inevitable given the serious cold they are exposed to,” he said, as scores of people squatted outside waiting for a consultation.

The seriously injured have been taken to Quetta. Even there, doctors said they were stretched.

Zainullah Kakar of the Bolan Medical College said it had 90 trauma patients.

“We are running short of antibiotics and other drugs. We need artificial limbs. We need metal plates and rods to treat broken arms and legs,” Mr Kakar said.—Agencies