ISLAMABAD: Hundreds and thousands of poorest of the poor, devastated by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake of September 24, are suffering from various post-quake epidemic diseases in an impoverished district of Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan.
Out of the four, mostly mountainous, routes that lead to the six worst-affected union councils of this huge district, three are unusable, thanks to a shadowy insurgency movement and poor road infrastructure, making the quake-affected areas inaccessible. Mashkay, Gishkor, Teertaig, Awaran, Parwar and Nokjo, according to Helping Hand Relief and Development (HHRD) Country Director Fazlur Rehman, are the six worst-affected UCs.
HHRD is an NGO active here and is funded by US-based Pakistanis.
Deputy District Health Officer Dr Mohammad Aslam, while treating patients in a makeshift medical camp in Bedi Dal village, told Pakistan Today that the earthquake survivors were suffering from five major diseases, including typhoid, malaria, dysentery, food poisoning and soar-throat.
Having treated over a hundred villagers so far, Dr Aslam said that the main reason for the spread of epidemics and other diseases in the least-developed neighbourhood was the use of unhygienic water and malnutrition.
Pakistan sees
rise in inflation
ISLAMABAD: The weekly inflation, measured through the sensitive price index (SPI), for combined income group increased by 0.09 percent for the week ended on Oct 10 compared to the previous week.
The SPI had been witnessing slight increase for the past four consecutive weeks, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data showed on Saturday.
The SPI rose by 0.24 percent for the lowest income group (earning Rs8,000 or less) and by 0.01pc for the top income group (earning Rs35,000 and above).
The food items whose prices raised substantially were: potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, sugar, wheat flour, mutton, red chilli powder, and moong pulse.
Bomb kills two Afghan cops
Kabul: A suicide bomber killed two policemen and one civilian in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, police said. The bomber detonated his explosive-filled car yesterday near a police station, according to dpa.
“The attacker wanted to enter the police department in Jalalabad city at 8:45am, but was identified by police at the gate,” the German news agency quoted Hazrat Ali Mashreqiwal, police spokesman for Nangarhar province as saying.
“He detonated his car in front of the gate, in which two policemen and a civilian were killed, while one policeman and four civilians were injured,” he said.
Scribe killed in restive province
Islamabad: Unidentified gunmen shot dead a journalist in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan , police said.
Ayub Khattak, who was working for an Urdu language daily, was shot dead in Karak district. The attackers, riding a motorcycle, escaped after the incident around 6.30pm, local media reported. The gunmen opened fire on the journalist outside his house and fled, a police official said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Khattak is the 9th journalist to be killed in Pakistan this year.
Agencies
