UN immunises kids in Pak quake zone

A Pakistan Kashmiri earthquake survivor and his family sit in front of their demolished makeshift hut as policemen look on in Muzaffarabad yesterday. Local authorities have demolished makeshift huts which were built by a local NGO on official land without permission from authorities.. PHOTO: AFP

Meanwhile, Pakistan and Indian opened a third crossing through their disputed Kashmir frontier as part of limited cooperation between the nuclear rivals since the Oct. 8 quake. But it involved only a ceremonial swap of aid as with the previous two openings with no crossings by Kashmiri residents.

Also Saturday, calm returned to a makeshift refugee camp in Muzaffarabad a day after police used bamboo canes and rifle butts to break up a march by survivors protesting eviction from the public park where they had been living.

Pakistani police said they had no immediate plans to move the camp residents.

UN and Pakistani health officials spearheading the immunization drive in Pakistan's portion of Kashmir are racing to protect children before the region's savage winter strikes, starting in the most remote towns hit by the quake and working their way toward larger hubs.

"Now, the mourning period is over, and everybody is ready to move forward to make sure that those who carry the future will be protected," said Dr. Edward Hoekstra, a senior health adviser for Unicef, the UN children's agency. "We are starting in the most inaccessible areas in case the weather turns bad in the next two weeks."

The campaign aims to vaccinate children up to age 15 against diseases including measles, polio, diphtheria and tetanus. Shots will include vitamin A, which can reduce the mortality rate of respiratory illnesses expected to be rife in winter by up to 50 percent, Hoekstra said.