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• 1 : - | i ■ r... Top U.N. relief coordinator urges airlift-type rescue for quake survivors [Dunir Ahmad THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MUZAFFARABAD — The top U.N. relief coordinator warned Thursday that bold initiatives like the Berlin Airlift are needed to save as many as 3 million people left homeless by the South Asian earthquake as winter approaches in the Himalayas. The World Health Organization, meanwhile, reported three quake survivors died of tetanus, reinforcing fears that disease and infected injuries could drive the 79,000 death toll far higher. Jan Egeland, the U.N. relief coordinator, appealed to NATO and other potential donors to step in with an army of helicopters to fly in relief supplies and evacuate perhaps hundreds of thousands of people. “The .world is not doing enough,” Egeland said in Geneva. “We should be able to do this.” He called for “a second Berlin air bridge” — nonstop flights reminiscent of the U.S. and British airlift of essential supplies into West Berlin in the late 1940s when Soviet troops blocked the city’s road links to the West for nearly 11 months. At one point, cargo planes landed in West Berlin at the rate of one a minute. “We thought that the tsunami was as bad as it could get. This is worse,” Egeland said. “The race against the clock is also like no other one. There is a terrible cutoff for us in the beginning of December, maybe even before, when there will be massive snowfalls in the Himalaya mountains.” NATO was expected to approve on Friday the dispatch of medics and hundreds of military engineers to clear roads and help reconstruction. However, allied commanders said it would be hard to muster enough of the light helicopters needed for flying in remote mountain areas to mount the campaign envisioned by Egeland. The quake has helped some leaders put aside long-standing enmity, with Pakistan’s President Gen. Pervez Musharraf saying he has accepted aid from India and Israel because of the desperate need. “My priority goes to the people of Pakistan, the people who have suffered,” he said in an interview on CNN. “The reconstruction effort is monumental.” Helicopters loaded with food and other supplies and soldiers on foot fanned out from the shattered city of Muzaffarabad in the heart of the earthquake zone in a frantic attempt to get help to remote villages damaged in the Oct. 8 tremor. “There is a continued need for more helicopter capacity, to move in the inaccessible areas,” Hilary Benn, British secretary of state for international development, said during a tour of the area. “The terrain here is very difficult and winter is approaching.” The first of 20 additional U.S. military helicopters will arrive next week to help, U.S. Rear Adm. Mike Le Fever said. The choppers shipped from the U.S. Air National Guard are being reassembled in Afghanistan, he said. A dozen U.S. military helicopters are ferrying in supplies and evacuating people from remote areas in Pakistan. Five more helicopters, normally used by the U.S. State Department for drug surveillance, also were shifted to relief efforts. Dozens of Pakistani and other foreign-helicopters also are flying missions to aid survivors in isolated villages. Abdul Aziz, whose wife was killed in the magnitude-7.6 quake, decided it was better to seek help rather than wait. He walked seven hours to Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan’s portion of Kashmir, with his three sons and daughter. The girl had a broken bone and all suffered from exposure and malnutrition. Ryan Rrmiorz / The Associated Press Earthquake victims Gulam Rasooi and his wife sit in front of their collapsed home in Gari Dupata, Pakistan on Thursday. A top U.N. official on Thursday urged the world to step up efforts to reach more than 3 million people left homeless by the South Asian earthquake. sg • connnucD mom i class a certain number of parking spaces. The student administration plans to meet with Huggins about these suggestions. Williams said: “(Parking) is an issue that haunts all of us, and nobody seems to be taking a step in a direction that would ease that burden. Even with that 5,000 garage space, if you allowed 3,000 more freshmen to come in next year, it’s going to be the same issue all over again.” USC is completing a new garage on Blossom Street that will hold 5,000 vehicles. Though restricting parking to upperclassmen might be unpopular with freshman, some students support the idea. “I think the parking idea to eliminate freshman parking is a very good idea, if it gives an advantage to the upperclassmen to get parking and less parking tickets because I for one have several,” said Ruschelle Crawford, a fourth-year English student. “Grade forgiveness” will give the students an opportunity to retake up to three classes for the opportunity to pull up grade point averages. The option will only be given to those who have made a D or an F in a course. The current policy requires that if a student fails a course, the course can be retaken but the newer grade will not count toward the student’s grade point average. With grade forgiveness, if a class is retaken, the student would get the higher grade of the two figured into the GPA calculation. However, the original grade will still stand on the transcript. Clemson University already has this program in effect. “We want to (give this opportunity to) students who have a terrible GPA and want to become competitive, whether it is in graduate school or in the job market,” Williams said. Raising the credit-hour limit to 18 is also on the policy docket for Williams. Each student now pays an additional charge for ally credit hour more than 16. Williams encourages students to drop off responses at the SG office in Russell House 227. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockneivs@gwm.sc.edu UlOLCnCC • CODTiniJED FROfTl I women were killed in domestic violence homicides in South Carolina last year. AWARENESS ACTIVITIES Throughout the month, students will have an opportunity to learn more about domestic violence through awareness campaigns and campus displays. From Oct. 24 through Oct. 28, students might notice silhouettes of women and men around campus with real victims stories. This initiative is called the “Silent Witness” campaign. The figures are sponsored and decorated by different organizations and classes, and will be displayed at events related to the month-long program. Domestic Violence Awareness Month activities also include an art department exhibition inspired by domestic violence Nov. 2. The exhibit will run from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Russell House lobby. Writers from USC’s English department will read poetry in the Russell House Theater on Nov. 1 from 8 to 11 p.m. Several local bands also will perform in the Greek Village on Nov. 2 at 5 p.m. “I want students to learn about the different things domestic violence entails,” Abron said. “They need to know the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships.” Abron wants students to understand the broad reach of domestic violence, which can affect victims’ friends, children and other family members. Most of all, she said she wants to help students who might be in unhealthy relationships recognize patterns of behavior and encourage them to get help. While some behaviors such as walking a boyfriend or girlfriend to every class, checking in on them, using sarcasm, or being jealous might seem harmless, when done excessively or in a pattern it can be an indication of an unhealthy relationship. Unhealthy relationships are also marked by an imbalance in power. “I want them to know that they aren’t alone,” Abron said. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu iiiiers • cotiTinucD proiri nation’s highest court, many experts speculate whether her loyalty to Bush will be a problem behind the bench. “It may be a limited issue for the Court,” said Thomas Hansford, assistant professor in the political science department. “Who knows, though? Maybe she’ll cast the deciding vote for Bush’s authority to deny rights to terror suspects based in part on her apparent reverence for him.” That reverence should be “a valid consideration,” Maney said. “The framers of the Constitution intended there to be a separation of powers.” Despite people’s possible misgivings, Miers will still have to go through the confirmation process. “The only formally required qualifications are that she be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate,” Hansford said. “Her confirmation hearings will matter a lot — a lot more than Roberts’ hearings mattered for his confirmation. 'The other wild card here is the very small possibility that the American Bar Association rates her as unqualified. If that were to happen, then all bets are off.” Maney said: “(She’ll) probably be confirmed, if I had to bet on it. My hunch is that she will be confirmed because so little is known about her. She’ll probably offer very general statements (during the hearing). It’ll be very hard to find out anything.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edu TH#%AMECOCK Nobody covers use better. Nobody. &c44/ Riverbend S&tk Apartments vfiMf •OtHMMOrto W.atata,ta»C-h»i» yM mtwM, m.ww HU ACJ) m«m <^> fj ' 1 »«C«SHOXAUY HAKAStD «T M4 MAMACtHtMT MBVtCU. MC. s££8 / V’ m loin Air Force ROTC at the University of South Carolina GREAT CAREERS Pilot Nurse Engineer Lawyer Navigator More GREAT benefits Travel Full Medical a Dental Care Build Leadership a Management Skills Starting Salary a Allowances: $35,000 30 Days Vacation with Pay Tuition Assistance for Graduate Degrees Job Security V ... and you may be eligible for one of our scholarships! For more information, call 777-3450 or visit the Air Force ROTC web site www.afrotc.com