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I haven't been around chit chat here lately but when i looked around tonight i was really shocked to find that no one had mentioned (that i can see) the devasting earthquake that has levelled cities in Pakistan. There have been many fundraising efforts here in Toronto, and for the next two weeks Canada's federal govt will match, dollar for dollar, every donation in Canada. This has been the top story on our evening news every night since it happened. Donations are greatly needed. According to our 11 o'clock news tonight, the temperature has dropped and snow has started to fall, making a desparate situation far worse. 
'Losing race against the clock' to help quake survivors, UN official says
The UN estimates two million people have been left homeless from the quake that killed about 35,000 people and levelled hundreds of villages.
Relief supplies are pouring into Pakistan, but terrain and confusion are conspiring to hamper efforts to move them to where they are most needed. The UN warns that the relief bottleneck must be eliminated soon or tens of thousands more may die.
"They will now have their sixth, seventh night out in the cold. Perhaps even without a tent. They will also not have water because their spring is gone," Egeland said.
"They are in a desperate situation. We need more helicopters to reach them. We need more helicopters soon. Those who have given helicopters, thank you. Others, give us more."
Time is also running out for people buried under the rubble.
An officer with Pakistan's Army Corps of Engineers admits the few hundred earthquake victims in the capital city of Islamabad are luckier than most because there's an abundance of expertise and equipment.
"Yes, we use the dogs, we use the sensors, we use the other instruments which can detect the breathing, the heartbeat," he said.
Move outside Islamabad and the situation grows more desperate by the hour. Relief supplies are making it to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, but a critical problem has developed moving aid beyond that point, into hundreds of isolated mountain villages.
"With no roads in the beginning, with very little international presence, and I think it is going as it could the first week, but I fear we are losing the race against the clock in these small villages around these centres," Egeland said.
The smell of dead bodies lingers over many ruins, as the risk grows of a serious outbreaks of disease.
"For the time being our worry is the spread of infection, infectious diseases like cholera, measles, meningitis, also malaria we have to think about," said Sami Ullah, a World Health Organization official.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/nation...ake051013.html
'Losing race against the clock' to help quake survivors, UN official says
The UN estimates two million people have been left homeless from the quake that killed about 35,000 people and levelled hundreds of villages.
Relief supplies are pouring into Pakistan, but terrain and confusion are conspiring to hamper efforts to move them to where they are most needed. The UN warns that the relief bottleneck must be eliminated soon or tens of thousands more may die.
"They will now have their sixth, seventh night out in the cold. Perhaps even without a tent. They will also not have water because their spring is gone," Egeland said.
"They are in a desperate situation. We need more helicopters to reach them. We need more helicopters soon. Those who have given helicopters, thank you. Others, give us more."
Time is also running out for people buried under the rubble.
An officer with Pakistan's Army Corps of Engineers admits the few hundred earthquake victims in the capital city of Islamabad are luckier than most because there's an abundance of expertise and equipment.
"Yes, we use the dogs, we use the sensors, we use the other instruments which can detect the breathing, the heartbeat," he said.
Move outside Islamabad and the situation grows more desperate by the hour. Relief supplies are making it to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, but a critical problem has developed moving aid beyond that point, into hundreds of isolated mountain villages.
"With no roads in the beginning, with very little international presence, and I think it is going as it could the first week, but I fear we are losing the race against the clock in these small villages around these centres," Egeland said.
The smell of dead bodies lingers over many ruins, as the risk grows of a serious outbreaks of disease.
"For the time being our worry is the spread of infection, infectious diseases like cholera, measles, meningitis, also malaria we have to think about," said Sami Ullah, a World Health Organization official.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/nation...ake051013.html
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