Kamalkote, J&K: The aftermath of the devastating earthquake in India and Pakistan is turning into the toughest relief operation the world has ever known, international aid officials said.
"We have never had this kind of logistical nightmare ever. We thought the tsunami was bad, this is worse," said United Nations emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland.
"We need a second Berlin air-bridge, and if they could do that in the end of the 1940s, set up in no time a lifeline to millions of people, we should be able to do that in 2005," Egeland said of the US-led airlift set up in 1949 to keep Soviet-blockaded West Berlin supplied.
Time running out
Tents capable of standing up to the looming Himalayan winter are the most needed aid item, but International Red Cross spokesman Olivier Moeckli said their size and weight made them difficult to deliver due to the shortage of helicopters.
"We need the world's help to provide tents and kerosene heaters to protect people from the cold," said Major-General Farooq Ahmed Khan, chief coordinator of the relief effort.
"The troops will carry relief supplies on their backs to remote areas," Pakistan?s military spokesman Major Farooq Nasir said.
The Indian government will construct at least 100 community halls in earthquake-ravaged areas of Uri and Tangdhar in Jammu and Kashmir for providing temporary shelter to the affected people, Union Urban Development Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said.
The minister said construction will be completed before the onset of winter.
The National Building Construction Corporation has already started moving prefabricated material for the community centers.
The community halls, with a capacity to accomodate 100 to 200 persons, will be later converted into schools or healthcare centers according to the local needs, Azad said.
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