Aid agencies say relief getting through to devastated quake site in northern Afghanistan

Thursday, March 28th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NAHRIN, Afghanistan (AP) _ Food, medicine, tents and other aid supplies began pouring into the quake-shattered northern Afghanistan region around Nahrin on Thursday, just hours after workers used explosives to clear roads leading to the stricken area.

The country on Thursday was observing a national day of mourning for the victims, although no one yet knows how many Afghans actually died in Monday's powerful temblor. Officials said the death toll is in the hundreds, not the thousands as originally feared.

A strong aftershock Wednesday sent boulders tumbling across mountain roads, temporarily blocking efforts to rush relief supplies to tens of thousands Afghans left homeless by a devastating quake this week. But aid workers said boulders blocking main routes had been blasted apart with explosives overnight and that the relief effort was now in full swing.

``Everything is moving along quite well,'' said Sherine Zaghow, an aid coordinator for the French relief agency ACTED. ``The roads have been cleared and distribution has begin.''

The 6.1-magnitude quake struck nearly 80 villages in a mountainous region nine miles in radius, affecting 100,000 people either cut off from food supplies or left homeless. But the United Nations said the death toll, at 600 confirmed dead on Wednesday, was expected to tally 800-1,200.

By Afghan standards, aid reached the quake-stricken Hindu Kush region with remarkable speed _ assisted by U.S. forces in Afghanistan to battle Taliban and al-Qaida forces and international peacekeepers whose first job is maintaining security in the capital, Kabul.

``We're here, obviously, for a combat mission, but when this unfortunate accident happened, we were standing by with our coalition partners,'' said Maj. Leanne Smullen, who accompanied two U.S. Chinooks from Bagram air base laden on Wednesday with U.N. medical supplies and tents. The crew also evacuated one injured person.

Three Chinooks landed in Nahrin early Thursday loaded with wheat, blankets, California dates, water, and Army rations. U.S. soldiers jumped out of the choppers and circled them as aid was unloaded, providing cover in case of attack.

``It's never too much to be too safe. It's very possible we could have al-Qaida or Taliban that we don't know about in the area,'' said Marine Capt. Steven O'Connor, a military spokesman.

Despite rough, poorly maintained roads and frequent truck breakdowns, 2,000 tents, 10,000 blankets and 1,000 tons of food reached Nahrin, 105 miles north of Kabul, a little more than a day after the quake, U.N. spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker said. Clothing, mattresses, cooking sets, medical supplies and surgical units also were on the way.

That's compared with the week it took desperate aid workers to reach villagers after another quake in northern Afghanistan four years ago killed 5,000 people.

Still, the needs were still greater than the supplies at hand. U.N. officials said they need 20,000 tents, 160,000 blankets and 10,000 mattresses.

While considerable aid had reached Nahrin, being used as a staging area for distribution, some residents in the old part of the city, which was completely destroyed, said Thursday that no assistance had reached them.

Haji Habib, 38, who lost eight relatives _ all children _ in the earthquake, came to the relief center on Thursday morning because surviving members of his family had almost no food.

``We don't have any food, we just have dried bread,'' Habib said. ``Here there is sugar bread tents and blankets, everything, but they don't distribute it. Why?''

Aid distribution to some of the 42 outlying villages was only just gearing up after reconnaissance teams concluded aerial and ground surveys Wednesday.

A new landslide prevented aid workers from reaching Burka north of Nahrin, where aerial reconnaissance showed half of the homes in eight villages had been destroyed, leaving 800 families homeless. Road crews had just cleared the dirt mountain track to the remote region when the 5.4-magnitude jolt loosened more boulders Wednesday, said U.N. regional coordinator Fahrana Faruqi.

Aid workers on Thursday were determining how best to reach the area, either by donkey or helicopter, said Alejandro Chicheri, a World Food Program spokesman in Kabul.

Relief efforts may be hampered by minefields left over from 20 years of conflict, their threat multiplied by concerns that the mines had been shifted by the quake.

``You just need one mine to stop everything,'' Chicheri said.

The United Nations said it remained concerned about conditions in the Panjshir Valley, tucked deep inside the Hindu Kush mountains north of Kabul, where six villages with 3,000 people were completely destroyed, and Lakankhel, where aid workers estimate up to 70 percent of homes in seven villages were destroyed, affecting 935 families.

Residents have been digging by hand through the rubble, searching for mattresses, carpets and any household goods to establish camps away from the collapsed walls and roofs of their mud-brick houses. Clusters of freshly dug graves dotted the slopes around the old town.