The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 21, 2005, Page 5, Image 5
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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
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