Again, words fail me in the face of such a disaster.

Up to 40,000 people have been killed, at least 60,000 injured and two-and-a-half million left homeless by the devastating south Asia earthquake, according to latest figures.

Behind the raw and rising statistics, the dreadful human cost of the tragedy was emerging in ruined towns across Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

The mountainous province of Kashmir was the worst hit, but the effects of the quake were felt in a 300-mile belt from Jalabad in Afghanistan to Srinagar in northern India. The earthquake struck at 0450BST on Saturday and is the worst to hit South Asia in a century.

"It is a whole generation that has been lost, the maximum number affected was schoolchildren," Major General Shaukat Sultan, Pakistan's military spokesman said.

"Rescuers are pulling out dead children in Muzaffarabad [the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, and the epicentre of the 7.6 quake] but there is no-one to claim the bodies. The parents, too, are dead."

The United Nations ChildrenÂ’s Fund (Unicef) said today that between 30,000 and 40,000 people had died. The figure is likely to rise further as rescue teams reach isolated towns and villages whose water supplies, power and road links have been wiped out.

The numbers are mind-boggling.

Please offer prayers, and help, to the survivors.

Posted by: Greg at 12:22 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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