Winter has spared Kashmiri quake survivors: UN

Last Updated: Wednesday, March 8, 2006 | 3:47 PM ET

CBC News

A predicted "second massive wave of death" among the three million people left homeless by an earthquake in Kashmir in October has failed to materialize, the United Nations said Wednesday.

The world body credits a relatively mild winter and a co-ordinated helicopter airlift of relief supplies into the mountainous region adjacent to northern Pakistan and neighbouring India.

"It was very kind weather, the number of helicopters we had at our disposal also helped and ... people didn't come down from the mountains and overburden the towns," the Associated Press quoted UN deputy humanitarian aid co-ordinator Jamie McGoldrick as saying.

Snow covers a community in Kashmir in the weeks following the earthquake on Oct. 8, 2005. (CP file photo)

An earthquake measuring 7.6 in magnitude devastated the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir on Oct. 8, 2005 and killed more than 87,000 people in Pakistan, India and the disputed region of Kashmir.

In the weeks following the disaster, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that "a second massive wave of death" would claim many more lives as winter approached if the survivors remained without adequate shelter and food.

• FROM OCT. 20, 2005: Send quake aid or face new wave of death: Annan

Homeless people could easily die of respiratory illnesses, diarrhea and other causes, Annan said.

The international community responded with $6.2 billion US in pledges and more than 30,000 tonnes of supplies.

As part of Canada's contribution, Ottawa deployed the military's Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), which set up a medical clinic and water purification units.

• FROM OCT. 18, 2005: DART arrives in Pakistan

According to statistics released Wednesday, helicopters have made more than 27,000 trips into the snowy Himalayan region in the past five months.

Government relief camps that have become a temporary home to more than 200,000 people are scheduled to close at the end of March, as spring arrives.

Other homeless people – more than 2.4 million of them – have spent the winter in donated winterized tents or in tin shacks while they await the chance to rebuild their homes.

McGoldrick warned that the region still faces peril as reconstruction efforts pick up steam starting in April.

For example, he said, the danger of mudslides will be high when monsoon season begins in July.