Kashmir cold and avalanches

Avalanches kill 8 in Indian Kashmir, force hundreds to leave villages

http://www.pr-inside.com/avalanches-kill-8-in-indian-kashmir-r428672.htm

2008-02-08 13:59:11 -

SRINAGAR, India (AP) - Avalanches killed at least eight people and forced hundreds more to leave their snowbound villages Friday in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, officials said.
Six members of one family died when cascading snow buried their village home in India's Jammu-Kashmir state, said Farooq Khan, a police deputy inspector general.
Police rescued a
2-year-old girl, also a member of the family, from the debris, Khan said.
One woman died after an avalanche struck her village near the frontier dividing the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir, local disaster management official Amir Ali said. The woman's son and daughter were missing and feared dead, Ali said.
Snow buried and killed a man in a mountain village in another part of Kashmir, said the area's superintendent of police, S.P. Pani.

Pani said the village received about 3.3 meters (11 feet) of snow this week, and the army and police evacuated hundreds of people from the area to shelters in school buildings in safer places.
An avalanche killed a soldier and two civilians working for the army Thursday, officials said.
Frequent rain and heavy snow often trigger winter avalanches in Kashmir, which is divided between neighboring India and Pakistan and claimed by both. They have fought two wars over the territory since their independence from Britain in 1947.

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1231721

Friday, 08 February 2008

Srinagar: Four people were killed by avalanches that struck Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam and Bandipore districts on Friday, while 32 villagers were rescued by a joint army and police team.

Authorities sent police personnel and soldiers of the 49 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) to Kulgam's Gulab Bagh village, about 85 km from here in the foothills of the Pir Panjal mountain range, after two people who escaped the avalanche of early Friday managed to call for help.

A house was buried, killing one person and injuring three. The body of Muhammad Shafi Chechi was recovered from under tonnes of snow.

Earlier reports said that around 40 villagers were trapped under the snow. The police said 32 people were rescued and taken to a school building in Qazigund.

An avalanche also struck Nayal village near the border town of Gurez, 120 km from here in Bandipore.

"One house was washed away in the avalanche and three people were killed," a police official said. He added that the body of a woman, identified as Sitara Begum, was recovered while search was on for the other two.

Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Mehboob Iqbal and Inspector General S.M. Sahai visited the avalanche-hit areas of south Kashmir to assess the situation.

A police official said 600 villagers who were evacuated from the nearby avalanche-prone Waltengu Nar village over the past four days have been temporarily lodged in school buildings here.

Several people were killed and many homes destroyed when avalanches struck Waltengu Nar in February 2005.

Eleven people have so far died during the last four days in incidents of house collapses and avalanches across the valley.

Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, whose official plane was the first to fly into the snow-ound valley Thursday, has instructed Consumer Affairs Minister Taj Mohiuddin to remain stationed in the valley to supervise relief and rescue operations.

While Friday morning was sunny in Jammu after five days of heavy rains, it was overcast and snowed heavily in the upper reaches of the Jammu region.

"It snowed heavily in Doda, Jawahar Tunnel and Gool Gulabgarh areas," said Divisional Commissioner (Jammu) Sudhanshu Pandey.

The valley continues to be blocked as the Jammu-Srinagar highway remained closed for the fifth day Friday and flights were suspended for the fourth day.

Free food centres have been set up by the state administration for stranded passengers in the winter capital Jammu.

The administration has also made arrangements for the stranded passengers to fly free to Srinagar in civil and air force planes once the weather improves.

People living in higher reaches and foothill villages have been asked to avoid unnecessary movement in these areas as the risk of avalanches remain very high.

The weather office held out little hope.

T.K. Jotshi, assistant director of the local weather office, told IANS: "This has been the heaviest February snowfall in the valley during the last five years."

"Same weather conditions are expected to continue during the next 24 hours."

Source: Indo-Asian News Service

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/214479.php/Army-saves-lives-of-45-people-in-J-K-avalanche

Srinagar, Feb 8: An army's rescue team today saved lives of 45 people, including women and children, who were hit by an avalanche in Gulabgarh village in Jammu and Kashmir.

The avalanche hit the village at around 7 a.m.

After getting the information, the army's Avalanche Rescue Team rushed to the spot and began the operation.

Three of the rescued people were in a critical condition. They were given first aid, but one of them succumbed to injuries.