(12 Feb 1998) Afghan/English/Nat
Warm weather is hampering efforts to deliver desperately needed aid to victims of last week's earthquake in Afghanistan.
With temperatures rising to up to 60 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday, heavy snowfalls have melted, turning the roads to mud and making them almost impassable.
The 6-point-1 magnitude earthquake killed at least 4-thousand people in northeastern Afghanistan last week and left another 15-thousand people homeless.
A Red Cross convoy was loaded up with clothes, rice and wheat in the Afghan town of Rustaq on Thursday morning - accompanied by 15 Afghan gunmen.
But it took several hours to reach the refugee centre at Sari Rustaq on the outskirts of Rustaq, because the convoy kept getting stuck in the mud.
Rising temperatures have melted the heavy snowfalls of the last few days, turning the roads to mud and making them almost impassable.
Thursday's convoy delivered goods to a school which has been turned into the largest refugee centre, housing about 1-thousand-200 earthquake survivors.
The 6-point-1 magnitude quake killed at least 4-thousand people last week and left another 15-thousand people homeless.
Chris Cliffe, a International Red Cross health delegate, said it was a logistical nightmare to get the aid to where it was needed.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It's all due to the weather. I mean this is not only a disaster, and it's also been a logistical nightmare just trying to get things here. But it seems to be falling into place. It's like we're at the core of this disaster, and there are just different ways of trying to penetrate it, and very few have got through. But hopefully tomorrow they'll get through and it'll start really speeding up."
SUPER CAPTION: Chris Cliffe, International Red Cross health delegate
These are the last supplies left in the region.
Further aid from the Taliban controlled capital of Kabul, Tajikistan and Pakistan has not reached the earthquake area because of the poor condition of the roads.
One refugee who received supplies said he'd lost everything and was glad that at least he had some aid.
SOUNDBITE: (Farsi)
"I lost my family in the quake. I've lost all of my animals and all that I owned. I can only rely on God. But these supplies at least give me something."
SUPER CAPTION: Muhammed Arod, Refugee
On Friday, a Hercules jet is due to parachute in a new delivery of aid from the Red Cross and two helicopters from the Tajik government are also due to send in more supplies.
But again the melting snow and muddy conditions means it will be hard to deliver the life-saving supplies to the more remote settlements.
Mud is making the trek to the village of Khazer almost impossible.
The small community of 15-hundred lost one fifth of its people in the devastating earthquake.
And those who survived are left with little to live in - many huts damaged beyond repair.
But there isn't much the villagers can do except brave the cold and wait for salvation to arrive.
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