Rescuers race against time in Kashmir

Indian Kashmiri earthquake survivors keep themselves warm over a dying fire at Rampur some 90km north-west of Srinagar yesterday. More than 1,300 people were killed and 5,000 others injured in Indian Kashmir, where the October 8 quake flattened more than 40,000 homes and partially destroyed twice that number. PHOTO: AFP

Rescuers and soldiers scoured the devastated mountainous region to deliver tents, food, medicines and blankets as the full extent of the damage to homes in the area emerged.

Indian Kashmir's Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed said the tremor had razed 40,720 homes in two districts of the state.

Rescuers had yet to reach 10 outlying villages, Sayeed told a news conference, adding that 73,450 houses, mostly made of timber and mud, were also partially damaged.

"Our engineers will assess the partially damaged homes to see if they are habitable or not," the chief minister said, adding that the final damage figure was likely to rise.

"The damage is more in Uri where 95 villages comprising of 120,000 inhabitants have been affected," he said, adding that in Tangdhar, 23,000 people in 42 villages have been hit.

He did not give details of damage in Indian Kashmir's 12 other districts.

Saturday's earthquake killed at least 1,300 people and injured more than 5,000 others in Indian Kashmir. Some 23,000 were killed over the de facto border in Pakistan.

"The death toll we fear is likely to rise as we are still unable to access certain areas," said Vijay Bakaya, who heads the mammoth relief operations from Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir.

Bakaya told AFP rescuers had reached 42 villages in the northern frontier district of Tangdhar while supplies were being sent to 80 others in the worst-hit Uri district, six km from the Line of Control which divides the two zones of Kashmir.