President, PM urge nation to show courage
—Review rescue efforts
—President forms Relief Fund
—Premier establishes Disaster Relief Centre
By Makhdoom Babar

ISLAMABAD—President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz reviewed rescue and relief operations at the site of 10-storey residential Margalla Tower in the capital, which collapsed following Saturday morning’s severe earthquake.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and senior military and civilian officials, overseeing the operations, briefed the President and the Prime Minister about rescue efforts.
Pakistan Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Civil Administration and Capital Development Authority took part in the rescue and relief operations in Islamabad’s F-10 sector, where one block of the building flattened, jolted by the intense quake, measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale.
In his brief remarks, the President said the rescuers are following a strategy to save the trapped people from the side of the debris of the collapsed building.
“The reaction has been very fast, people reached the site shortly after the earthquake and responded efficiently and I think they are following a right strategy,” he said.
The President was informed that some 70 to 80 people were trapped inside, as rescuers ferried the injured to capital’s hospitals for treatment.
He said the plants are arriving at the site, army is here, engineers are here, police, civil administration, CDA are here and the Minister of Interior and political leaders also arrived at the site for concerted rescue and recovery operations.
“So there is total coordination, a disaster relief cell has been opened at the PM Secretariat, which is reviewing the situation across the country, a President’s Fund has been set up, Air Force has got C-130 ready for participation, Army Aviation has been informed and 10 MI-17 helicopter are already operative”.
Casualties are being evacuated and relief goods are also being transported to the affected people.
President Musharraf described the disaster as time of test for the entire nation and the government.
“I am fully confident that we shall live up to the challenging task (of rescue and relief),” he said.
The Prime Minister, speaking at the site, said all civilian and military organizations are participating in the relief efforts.
“We shall meet all requirements for efficient efforts,” he said.
Expressing their deep shock and grief over the loss of lives and property due to the high intensity earthquake that jolted most parts of the country including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, NWFP, Punjab and Azad Kashmir, President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz have urged upon the nation to be courageous in the testing hour.
During their visit to F-10 Margalla Towers, president and prime minister monitored the situation and issued directives for the rescue operations. President Musharraf said that the strategy adopted by rescue teams is right as first of all they will try to evacuate the people stranded in the collapsed building and later they will lift the main debris of the twelve storey building. He said within an hour of the incident, military, police, engineers and CDA officials rushed to the spot and started rescue work.
An emergency relief cell has been set at Prime Minister Secretariat to monitor the situation similarly a President Relief Fund will also be constituted, he said and added government will utilize all its available resources to provide relief to the people affected by the tremors. Army Aviation C-130 are ready for the relief work and hectic efforts are being made to rescue 80 people who are stranded in the building.
“We are also in touch with provincial governments and government of Azad Kashmir,” he added.
This is a testing time for us not only as a human being but also as a nation and Insha Allah we will com out of this situation, he underscored. We are here to review the situation, the interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, State Minister, politicians and local administration is here at the incident site to monitor the rescue operations.
Speaking on the occasion, the prime minister said an emergency relief cell has been set up at prime minister secretariat.
The rescue efforts are on and every kind of relief is being provided to the people of this calamity.
On directives of Prime minister Shaukat Aziz two special flights and trains from Karachi will be started to take people who want to meet their relatives in Islamabad and Peshawar.
The flights will take off from Karachi at 6 and 10:30 for Islamabad while special trains for Rawalpindi and Peshawar will leave at 4:00 pm.