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Quake survivors dig caves for winter shelter

     Islamabad: The October 8th earthquake survivors are digging caves into the sides of mountains and salvaging material from wrecked homes for crude huts, while desperately seeking shelter in the already-arrived harsh winter conditions, the aid workers of international rescue agencies in the quake-hit areas of Pakistan said. According to rough estimates, there are nearly three million people who were rendered homeless in the quake, being described as the worst ever in the past 100 years. The aid workers said that even after three weeks after the quake, relief and rehabilitation material were not reaching the survivors and that they were forced to make alternate provisions such as digging cases. There's no way to get tents to all those in need, the Daily Times quoted the aid workers as telling the Seattle Times over telephone. In an attempt to minimise deaths among the homeless, the aid organisations are scrambling to offer tools, tin and other construction supplies to help the villagers. "They are very obviously not wasting any time at all," said John Schenk, a World Vision Aid worker, reportedly said.

    The quake relief workers have described the situation after the quake as the most difficult in modern times, even as it is hampered by logistical problems in reaching survivors, inadequate funding and increasingly harsh winter weather. The number of survivors who need assistance appears to be as much as double the number of Asian tsunami survivors, and some of those survivors are expected to die from exposure and other hardships in the months ahead. "We're seeing a huge potential for loss of life," the report quoted Rod Snider, an aid official in Pakistan with Save The Children, as saying. Meanwhile, according to the report, some of the toughest conditions were faced by farmers scattered in hundreds of small, remote mountain villages. Many lived in homes built of mud, brick or of timber topped by sod roofs that imploded during the earthquake. And in the winter, their villages are buried in snow, making travel difficult.