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| Quake rescuers return as hopes fade http://www.bbfans.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=22714 |
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| Author: | JimD [ 15 Oct 05, 16:08 ] |
| Post subject: | Quake rescuers return as hopes fade |
5:27pm (UK) Fri 14 Oct 2005 Scotsman British rescue teams have returned home as hope finally ran out for saving any more victims of the South East Asia earthquake. Volunteers from Rapid UK were given a hero's welcome at Heathrow Airport after dragging seven survivors from the wreckage in the Pakistan capital Islamabad. The 15-strong team's leader John Holland, 50, described the scenes of "elation" which accompanied their successful rescues. "Many tears have been shed this week, by myself included," he said. Although the search for survivors amid the debris has now been all-but abandoned, the aid effort for the injured and homeless remains in full swing. The Disasters Emergency Committee announced that a celebrity-led televised phone-in had raised around £4million for the earthquake appeal. Stars from Liberty X, Big Brother housemate Makosi Musambasi and TV and radio presenter Jamie Theakston joined 100 volunteers for Thursday night's seven-hour event at the BT Tower in London, which was shown live on evening news programmes and Channel 4's Richard And Judy. A DEC spokesman said that a further £3million had been pledged to the appeal during the day, bringing the total raised so far to around £12million. The UN estimates that at least 35,000 people lost their lives following last Saturday's 7.6 magnitude quake, which hit Pakistan-administered Kashmir especially hard. Millions of people have been left homeless and vulnerable to disease and freezing temperatures amid the first winter snows in the region. Oxfam said it had taken over a factory in Lahore, Pakistan, in a desperate attempt to produce 20,000 tents as shelter for victims. The charity is also flying in another heavy lift helicopter to help move essential supplies over the rough terrain. Spokesman Brendan Cox said: "This isn't a logistical headache, it's a nightmare scenario. Not only did the earthquake happen in an inaccessible and remote area, it happened just before winter - when snow cuts off huge areas and temperatures plummet dangerously low. We need to get thousands of heavy tents and blankets into remote areas along roads that were barely passable even before the earthquake - and we need to do it quickly." An Oxfam aid flight from Manston in Kent arrived in the region with aid worth £200,000. Its 40 ton cargo included winter clothes for 5,000 children, 1,000 square metres of tarpaulin for constructing temporary shelters and 30,000 blankets. There were also water tanks, pumps, pipes, testing kits and purification equipment to supply clean drinking water to thousands of people. The aid will help 100,000 people. Supermarket chain Asda has donated £100,000-worth of tents to the appeal. |
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