The United Nations refugee agency on Tuesday said it was standing by for an exodus of mountain-dwellers who survived the earthquake but are facing increasingly bitter winter weather. Jennifer Pagonis, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said that with more heavy snowfalls forecast by the end of this week, the Pakistani government estimates that between 100,000 and 200,000 people could head down to lower-lying areas in the North West Frontier Province and 30,000 in Azad Kashmir.
| But I thought they'd rather die than subject their wimmin to the leering gaze of flatland furriners and infidels and such riff-raff? |
| No silly, they'd rather kill their wimminfolk than subject them to the leering gaze ... |
Pakistan bore the brunt of the October 8 earthquake, which killed 73,000 people there. Another 1,300 died in India. Aid efforts are now focusing on the 3.5 million people left homeless, many living in tents not designed for freezing conditions or stuck in isolated areas that are hard for aid agencies to reach. Last week, the UN warned that efforts to shelter survivors from the Himalayan winter were on a knifeâs edge. Pagonis said the UNHCRâs top priority is âwinterisingâ tents in camps, providing survivors with three blankets each, plus extra mattresses and plastic sheeting, as well as stoves and fuel. She said the agency is tapping the knowledge of Afghan refugees, many of whom have lived in camps in Pakistan for two decades after fleeing conflict in their homeland and have learned to cope as winter bites. |