Afghan quake kills 4,575, thousands homeless: Western aid workers

ISLAMABAD, Feb 11 (AFP) - The devastating earthquake in northern Afghanistan has left 4,575 people dead, Western aid workers engaged in the massive relief operation told AFP by telephone Wednesday. The tragedy had left another 4,300 people homeless, they said. Figures provided by local Afghan authorities in the northern Takhar province had been "corroborated" by a survey conducted by the aid workers in the devastated area, Jacques Tremblay, chief of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said. Speaking from the Takhar capital Taloqan by satellite telephone, Tremblay said 140 people wounded in the February 4 tremors were receiving treatment in local hospital in the worst-hit Rostaq district. Tremblay, a French-speaking Canadian, said some 150 people with minor injuries were pouring in daily at the Rostaq hospital. He said the Khawajaghar airstrip in Takhar province was closed on Wednesday owing to heavy snow overnight. "But the strip has been cleared and hopefully the supply planes can land on Thursday if there is no more snow during the night," he added. At the same time dozens of trucks are converging on the Rostaq area from Taloqan, the nearby northern district of Pule Khonmri and the Afghan opposition alliance's headquarters at Mazar-i-Sharif, in addition to the bordering state of Tajikistan, he said. The convoys are loaded with food, tents, blankets, medicines, fuel and coal provided by the international humanitarian organisations, he said. He added that judging from the scale of the tragedy the supplies might be only sufficient to meet the affected people's urgent needs. Tremblay said the provincial authorities had put two helicopters at the disposal of the rescuers. The type of the heliopters was not known. Opposition commander Ahmad Shah Masood, who controls the area, has also provided one Russian-made helicopter to the rescue workers, he said.