Oct. 12, 2005

Innocence Lost In Quake Disaster

About Half Of Pakistan's Victims Believed To Be Under The Age Of 15

  • Play CBS Video Video Pakistani Kids Hit Hard

    In a country where the population is disproportionately young, many children who survived Saturday's earthquake now face lives that have been forever changed. Lee Cowan has more.

  • Video Earthquake Relief Presses On

    The estimated death toll from Saturday's earthquake in Pakistan continues to climb. As Richard Roth reports, the nightmare is just beginning for people in the most devastated areas.

  • Video Weather Clears In Pakistan

    The United States is sending more aid to areas hit hardest by Saturday's earthquake, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stopped in Pakistan on her trip through the region. Aleen Sirgany reports.

    • A child retrieved from the rubble in Pakistan.

      A child retrieved from the rubble in Pakistan.  (CBS)

    • A man calls for food during distribution in Muzaffarabad

      A man calls for food during distribution in Muzaffarabad  (AP)

    • Aid supplies are unloaded and injured Pakistanis loaded onto Chinook helicopters in Balakot, Pakistan

      Aid supplies are unloaded and injured Pakistanis loaded onto Chinook helicopters in Balakot, Pakistan  (AP)

    • A Pakistani girl wounded in the quake waits to be airlifted to the capital Islamabad for treatment.

      A Pakistani girl wounded in the quake waits to be airlifted to the capital Islamabad for treatment.  (AP)

    • U.S. soldiers help a Pakistani man and his wounded son into a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter to evacuate him to the capital.

      U.S. soldiers help a Pakistani man and his wounded son into a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter to evacuate him to the capital.  (AP)

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  • Interactive Asia Left Shaken

    A 7.6-magnitude earthquake leaves death, destruction and desperate need in parts of south Asia.

  • Interactive India & Pakistan

    A history of the conflict between these nuclear nations, with photos and facts on their arsenals.

  • Interactive Ground Shakers

    Learn about what triggers an earthquake and get details on some of the world's worst.

(CBS/AP)  Of all the grim statistics unearthed from the rubble of Pakistan, the following may prove the saddest: about half of the country's victims are below the age of 15 and nearly a third are under the age of nine, CBS News correspondent Lee Cowan reports.

Nowhere was that more evident than the town of Balakot, six miles from the earthquake's epicenter.

Balakot had as many as 10 schools. Most were flimsy, multi-story buildings that pancaked when the earthquake hit; one concrete classroom smashed on top of another.

Injured classmates come to watch the recovery efforts. Their parents come to pray, but there is now an eerie quiet (video). The few children's voices once heard are growing more silent every day.

Relief supplies poured into Pakistan from about 30 countries Wednesday, including from longtime archrival India. Better weather aided the relief effort, after rain and hail grounded efforts Tuesday.

And U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promised long-term U.S. help for Pakistan. Rice predicted more aid beyond an initial $50 million but gave no specific figures or timeline. Tens of thousands were believed killed in Saturday's 7.6 magnitude earthquake, with millions left homeless after entire communities were flattened in the region touching Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

Also on Wednesday, a strong aftershock hit Pakistan's capital of Islamabad. Buildings moved for a few seconds during the short temblor, and it was not immediately clear what magnitude the aftershock was, or whether it caused any damage.

While aid trickles in, rescue teams race to save any remaining survivors.

A French team found a boy using a tiny camera they snaked into the rubble. He was 15 feet down, still trapped at his desk. Careful not to cause another collapse, they dug an escape hatch, and by nightfall, he was delivered from hell to the hands of his father.

There were more survivors, pulled out limp, dust and debris whisked from their hair.

"You just can't be more happy for someone in that situation, at the same time you realize there are so many people who are not that fortunate," Dr. Farrukh Hamid said from Dallas.

Hamid is from Pakistan and still awaiting word of on one of his young cousins.

But as bad as that is, he worried for the children who didn't die, who still sit waiting to be claimed. "There are kids who survived and their parents haven't, and there's a lot in front of them," Hamid says.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday also announced a $17.5 million increase in Britain's aid to victims of the South Asian earthquake.

Japan, in addition to its $20 million pledge, promised Wednesday to send up to three helicopters, four transport planes and more than 100 soldiers to help distribute aid and evacuate earthquake victims at risk of disease from crowded and unsanitary living conditions.

Continued



©MMV CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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