Homeless Pakistan Quake Survivors Face Cold Weather

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Pakistani rescue teams have reached most of the communities in the mountain regions hit by a major earthquake, as many survivors made homeless by the quake faced a third night outdoors in cold weather. Aljazeera reports:

Rugged terrain, severed communication lines and an unstable security situation impeded relief efforts since Monday’s 7.5-magnitude quake ripped through the South Asia region, killing more than 300 people. It took rescuers more than 40 hours to reach survivors as landslides caused by the tremors blocked roads in some areas, officials in the Pakistani capital Islamabad said.

“Almost all roads have been made passable now,” said General Hidayatur Rehman, military commander for the worst-hit region in the northwest near the Afghan border. “We will try to reach all survivors.”

However, a quake victim in Shangla, one of the worst-hit districts of Pakistan’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told Al Jazeera that their situation was getting worse due to the extreme cold and lack of relief aid.

“We are still waiting for food, blankets and other necessary things for us to survive. It is extremely cold and it’s been raining,” Wahab Hayat told Al Jazeera.  “We are in dire need of help. The earthquake is not over for us yet. It shook our world.”