Quake survivors facing relief shortages
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-11 19:52

India's prime minister acknowledged Tuesday that many survivors of the powerful South Asian earthquake in Indian-ruled Kashmir don't have enough tents and medicine.

Officials said the death toll in Indian Kashmir from Saturday's 7.6-magnitude quake had reached 1,005 — including 934 civilians and 71 defense personnel.

Touring the devastated areas for the first time Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured thousands of victims that the government would help them restart their lives.

"I am aware of the shortage of tents and inadequate medical facilities. We will do our best to organize these facilities for you," Singh said after meeting survivors in Uri, the worst-affected area of Indian Kashmir.

He pledged an additional $111 million in assistance on top of the $31.5 million already promised by his government for relief and rehabilitation in the Himalayan territory

The region, India's only Muslim-majority state, also has suffered from an Islamic separatist insurgency that has killed more than 66,000 people since 1989.

On Monday, Kashmir's biggest militant group, the Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen, offered to suspend violence, while other nonviolent separatist groups joined relief efforts, distributing milk, food and blankets.

The bulk of the relief effort, however, has been led by the government and army, which has more than a half million soldiers posted in the territory because of the insurgency.

Army planes have been dropping food, medicines and shrouds — required by Islam for burial — from the air to inaccessible mountain villages. In addition, some 5,000 tents have been provided, far short of the 15,000 needed.