Musharraf pledges 500,000 tents for quake refugees
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The Pakistani president defended his government's earthquake response by saying that not even the US can deal with such a big disaster with complete success, and pledged to deliver a half-million tents to quake survivors by the end of November.
Thanking donors, Musharraf said the international community and Pakistani companies have already provided about 228,000 tents for the estimated 3.3 million people left homeless.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared that relief efforts are "proceeding quite satisfactorily," and blasted critics who have slammed his military for not moving quickly enough to help the millions of survivors of the October 8 quake centered in Pakistan's portion of Kashmir.
Pakistan's official death toll from the quake rose to 57,597 on Monday, with 78,800 injured.
However, central government figures have lagged behind those of local governments, who put the number of dead at about 80,000. Another 1,350 people died in Indian-held Kashmir. About 800,000 people still lack any form of shelter.