India: Kashmir Quake - Back to square one?
EmailThe roads to Karnah, Teetwal, Tangdhar and Keran are still closed after five days. Zojila, the highest point on the 434-km long Leh highway, received about five feet of snow. Zojila highway has been closed to civilian traffic since November 17.
The world famous Dal lake has partially frozen. Many stretches of the lake were frozen between the banks and houseboats. The thickness of the ice varied between 20 centimetres at the banks and six centimetres towards the middle of the lake as the night temperature for the night was recorded at minus 4.0 Degrees celsius, the sources said.Electricity supply has been hit and was not restored even after 4 days in many towns in Anantnag and Pulwama districts of South Kashmir, some parts of Budgam in central Kashmir and north Kashmir Baramulla and Kupwara districts because of massive damage to the poles and electric wires.
Fresh suffering has, therefore, been heaped on thousands of quake survivors in Uri and Tangdhar. At many places the temporary shelters and tents have collapsed, and people have been forced to take shelter in community halls and government buildings
The leading daily Thr Hindu reports Khurshid Ahmed, a resident of Uri, as saying, "We couldn't sleep for the second straight night. Until midnight it was snowing heavily and we took turns to remove the snow from our sheds to prevent them from collapsing," . Another resident Ghulam Khawja said, "It is very cold out here. Even the firewood is wet, and there is a scarcity of kerosene."
An official is reported as saying, "We are back to square one. We are doing rescue work again."
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