Rescue efforts wind down in Pakistan
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-14 20:21

The U.S. military has deployed 13 helicopters, including eight Chinooks, three Blackhawks and two heavy-lifting MH-53s, to ferry rescue workers and supplies to the quake zone, and has begun dropping relief supplies by air from C-130s. It also prepared to send a 36-bed Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, or MASH, from Germany, and a water purification crew.

U.S. aircraft and troops will assist in relief efforts in Pakistan as long as they are wanted, the commander of the U.S. military's disaster assistance center said Friday.

"My view is that we will be here as long as Pakistan wants us, to demonstrate our friendship," U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Michael Lefever said.

Dozens of countries have donated money and aid. New Zealand doubled its earthquake aid to $1 million and Japan dispatched 100 troops and two military transport planes carrying a helicopter and a power-supplying vehicle.

In the stricken Pakistani town of Balakot, dozens of volunteers burrowed into a collapsed school and dug mass graves. They complained that Pakistani soldiers were not helping them.

"We got 25 bodies of children yesterday and buried them in a mass grave. We got seven more today," said volunteer Sayed Ahmad Hussain, 35.

"We still expect miracles," Hussain said. "But the bodies we pulled out were in bad shape ... they are now decomposing."

A relief team from Britain-based Plan International flew a helicopter carrying water, juice and milk to villages in the Mansehra district of North West Frontier Province and said people were hungry and panicking.

In Islamabad, police launched a criminal investigation into the collapse of a 10-story luxury apartment tower that toppled during the quake, killing at least 40 residents. It was the only structure that collapsed in the capital.