Weather Thwarts Quake Relief

About 30,000 people are waiting for help in the wake of last week's devastating earthquake in northeastern Afghanistan. But blistering winds, snowfall, and heavy fog continue to thwart efforts by aid workers to distribute more emergency supplies.

Nearly 5,000 people died when a 6.1-magnitude earthquake shook the earth, split mountains, and buried dozens of villages beneath rock and earth in the remote mountainous area.

During a brief respite in the weather Thursday, a three-truck World Food Program convoy managed to reach Rustaq after four tortuous days on the road, said aid workers. Several tons of aid were also flown in, most of it blankets and plastic sheeting.

"We are starting to get supplies in by road and by helicopter," said Alexander Faite of the International Committee for the Red Cross.

The earthquake area is controlled by the anti-Taliban alliance. The Taliban religious army, which controls about 85 percent of the country, made its first offer of assistance on Friday, offering US$70,000 as well as rice and wheat, said Abdul Rehman Ottaqi, deputy information minister.

The Taliban has been letting the international aid cross its front lines to reach the victims.

"They are our brothers. This is a tragedy for all Afghans on both sides of the fight," said Ottaqi.

In other developments:

• Both the Red Cross and U.N. say they will continue to send aid convoys, but there is no guarantee when they will arrive. The U.N. had a convoy en route from Dushanbe in Tajikistan, and the Red Cross was struggling to get a convoy in from Uzbekistan.
• Another Red Cross convoy, on its way from Pul-e-Kumri, barely 60 miles away, had been on the road since Sunday and was still a couple of days away.
• Bad weather Friday grounded a U.N. aircraft with several tons of supplies in Pakistan.
• To supplement their ground efforts, aid workers planned to parachute in supplies. The U.N. and the Red Cross on Thursday issued a joint appeal for US$2.5 million to parachute 1,000 tons of supplies into the devastated region.

  Written by Zaheeruddin Abdullah ©1998 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed