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Published 12 Oct, 2005 12:00am

Relief vehicles jam road to Abbottabad

ABBOTTABAD, Oct 11: The entire country is presenting a picture of love and affection with the earthquake affected people as the main Abbottabad road is choked with a long queue of vehicles where one can see people from Peshawar to Karachi eager to reach the devastated areas and the people in dire need of relief goods.

Every third vehicle is loaded with the relief goods and these goods are coming from each and every nook and corner of the country.

Countless families using their vehicles — loaded with fresh bread, mineral water, soft drinks, blankets and clothing — are seen rushing to Balakot and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Keeping the inflow of relief goods sent from the people, the relief goods are considered to be enough but one thing which is badly hampering the relief work is the disorganized work by government functionaries as they are unable to bring the whole process through one route and everyone is moving to the affected areas without the knowledge of needs of the people of that particular area.

The Abbottabad district, with a total fatality count of more than 500, is yet to receive relief goods either from private donors or by the federal government of Pakistan sent by foreign countries as union councils and villages like Bakot, Pattan Kalan, Khan, Thandiynai, Chambiali, Biran Gali, Nambal, Kokmang, Molian and many more which are still inaccessible and no relief work has been started by government in these areas.

Almost 70 per cent houses are either damaged or completely destroyed and the earthquake-hit people are sitting under the open sky in cool temperature nearly touching the freezing point in the nights.

Till date relief goods were distributed only among the patients admitted to the Ayub Medical Complex by the organizations and associations at their own.

The Ayub Medical Complex, the CMH and private hospitals received at least 1,000 patients during the last 12 hours out of whom 120 were shifted to the POF Wah where accommodation for at least 360 patients has been reserved by the POF management.

At least 60 surgeons from Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad had joined the local paramedics.

According to the Ayub Medical Complex MS, the flow of patients was increasing with a fast note and they were shifting them to other parts of country especially Haripur, Taxila and Wah while from Muzaffarabad, patients were shifted to Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

He said that they may require the services of some of the private hospitals in lower parts of the country to cater to the need of patients as still relief work in most parts of the Hazara has not yet started and needed some mobile hospitals for Balakot and Muzaffarabad to provide early first aid to patients.

More than 100 ambulances of different organizations and government departments were being used for the rescue operation by the hospitals in Mansehra and Abbottabad. However, bad weather was hampering rescue and relief work.

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