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Showing posts from December 3, 2005

Quake survivors victims again

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Winter is almost here in the U.S., but for the quake survivors of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province winter means more than just a threat of sky-high heating bills... For these already devastated Pakistanis it means foreshadowed serious illness and death resulting from inadequate shelter or, in some cases, no shelter at all during the coldest months of the year. After losing an estimated 87,000 family members, friends and neighbors in the Oct. 8, 2005 earthquake, much of Pakistan's North West Frontier and disputed Kashmir population, as well as neighbors in India's disputed Kashmir, were left homeless or with sub-standard living conditions. The temperature right now in Balakot, Pakistan (Elevation: 3215 ft / 980 m, near the quake epicenter) is 58F and it will plunge to as low as 39F by tomorrow. The Seattle Times states, "Pakistan's army said it was constructing 5,000 shelters a day out of corrugated metal for the 3.5 million people left homeless amid fears