ISLAMABAD: Death toll in avalanche hit Neelum Valley rised to 73 and still rescue work is continue, while more than one hundred people were injured and a large number of houses and other settlements were destroyed.
Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday to review the relief activities in Neelum Valley. He visited the Combined Military Hospital in capital Muzaffarabad to inquire after the injured.
Death toll reached 73 while more than a hundred were seriously injured. Over 91 houses were totally destoryed while 101 houses and a Masjid were partially damaged, 19 shops were also destroyed besides, 7 vehicles and 3 motorcycles were damaged
It was a big disaster as the valley had not gone through at such a scale in over a decade.
In Neelum Valley, the death toll in several incidents of snow-sliding rose to 73 as the bodies of victims were retrieved from beneath mounds of snow on Tuesday, said Fayyaz Ali Abbasi, a senior official in the AJK government. He added that another 53 persons were rescued alive in injured condition.
Around 80 per cent of the casualties had occurred in the hamlets of Bakwali and Seri in Surgan area of tehsil Sharda, he said.
Sharda is located some 137 kilometres northeast of Muzaffarabad and Surgan area stretches into the high altitude mountains from there. Bakwali and Seri are located around 8 and 10 kilometres, respectively, off the main Neelum valley road.
Witnesses said that the rescue operation was carried out by local residents, police and army personnel. Neelum Deputy Commissioner Raja Mehmood Shahid all but six bodies had been recovered by the rescuers. He added that army helicopters had also taken part in rescue and relief operation.
AJK Legislative Assembly Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir, who has returned from Neelum Valley, was in Islamabad on Tuesday to coordinate with the federal government authorities, including the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), to extend all possible assistance to the affected population.
Qadir said that the rescue operation had almost been completed with the help of the army and civil administration but the next and real challenge was the relief operation, which too would be accomplished before Friday when another spell of heavy snowfall is expected.
Qadir’s electoral rival Mian Abdul Waheed, a former minister in the PPP government, stressed that since transportation of relief goods was not possible via the snow-capped link road to the affected hamlets, the government should engage helicopters.
“In order to keep the survivors alive, we have to rush essential supplies to them on a war footing,” he said. “This is not possible without employing helicopters,” he added.
Meanwhile, Avalanches, flooding and extreme weather conditions have caused death of more than 130 people across Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent days, officials said on Tuesday as authorities struggled to reach people stranded by heavy snowfall.
Frequent avalanches and landslides occur in Kashmir during the winter, often blocking roads and leaving communities isolated. Authorities have shut down schools, while several highways and roads were closed across the northern mountainous areas, according to officials.
To the southeast, in Balochistan, at least 31 people have been killed in separate weather-related incidents. “Most of those who died were women and children,” said Mohammad Younus, an official with the provincial disaster management authority.
Across the border in Afghanistan, more than 300 houses were either destroyed or partially damaged throughout the country, said Ahmad Tamim Azimi a spokesman for the NDMA.
“A cold snap, heavy snowfall and rains that started two weeks ago have caused damage,” he said, adding that most casualties were caused after roofs collapsed under thick snow. Hardest hit were southern Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul and western Herat provinces.
In Herat, seven people – all members of the same family and including children – died when their roof caved in, Azimi added. Harsh winters often take a heavy toll in mountainous Afghanistan, and the country remains poor despite billions of dollars in aid.
Read more: Avalanche hits Neelum Valley, leaves 61 dead
