IRIN
PAKISTAN: Avalanches kill more than 40 in north
2 April 2007


ISLAMABAD, 2 April 2007 (IRIN) - Forty-one people are feared dead and 13 
remain missing after a spate of avalanches struck Pakistan's 
northwestern Chitral district this weekend. Heavy snows are hampering 
relief efforts to the affected region, officials said on Monday.

"We still don't have exact figures on the number of people affected, 
however, we expect the numbers could be higher," Jahangir Khan, relief 
commissioner for Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) told 
IRIN from Peshawar, the region's capital.

"We have sent food and non-food items to Chitral, but access to the 
affected area remains problematic," Khan explained, adding that the main 
road connecting Mastuj subdivision and Chitral's Arandu subdivision 
remained blocked due to heavy snowfall, with many parts of the area 
without electricity.

As of Monday, the government had dispatched two military helicopters and 
other relief supplies, including tents, food, blankets and medicine to 
the affected area.

According to local authorities in Chitral, the worst affected area was 
the village of Wasij, where 23 bodies were recovered and 26 homes were 
destroyed after an avalanche swept through the tiny village on Saturday.

"The removal of the debris is continuing, as is the search and rescue 
effort for the 13 people still buried [under snow]," Khan said.

One day earlier, two people were confirmed dead in the tiny hamlet of 
Terich. On Sunday, five people died in the village of Phostiki, followed 
by 11 more in the village of Momi, about 25 km northwest of Chitral, the 
region's main town.

Avalanches are common in mountainous Chitral at this time of year, with 
regular heavy snowfalls and roads often closed, leaving local 
communities isolated from the rest of the country.

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