U.N.: No Second Wave of Deaths After Quake

March 8, 2006, 5:44 AM EST

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The worst of the winter has passed without a second humanitarian disaster in earthquake-ravaged northwestern Pakistan and Kashmir, a U.N. official said Wednesday.

The Oct. 8 magnitude-7.6 quake killed about 87,000, mostly in Pakistan's part of disputed Kashmir, and left more than three million people homeless. More than 1,300 others died on the Indian side of the Himalayan region.

But U.N. Deputy Humanitarian Aid Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick said the threat of a second wave of deaths, a large population exodus from the mountains, severe malnutrition and outbreaks of epidemics during the harsh Himalayan winter had been averted.

"We think the winter phase is over; the winter race has been won," McGoldrick told reporters at a news conference marking five months since the quake.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-south-asia-quake,0,2448349.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

Good news. I think these people are a lot tougher and use to harsh conditions then we give them credit for. That combined with a mild winter have helped avert another disaster.

but there IS a second wave of death... check with the coroner stats in New Orleans... apparently, even though the population has shrunk by a factor of 4 since the hurricane, the number of newly deaths is actually higher than pre-Katrina.

We fight this type of thing after tsunamis and major earthquakes halfway around the world, but when a flood happens right here, we seem powerless to fight this type of thing from happening here. Or is that the plan?