Justin Huggler (Extracted from "They are not giving out tents. Only those with political connections are getting them", The Independent, 17 October 2005)

"Pakistan -- The relief effort is failing, and thousands are without food or shelter. In the mountains above Balakot, the town that was completely destroyed by the earthquake, scenes that could come from the First World War are unfolding....

Mr Abbas and his mother are staying under an old tarpaulin sheet the family used to cover their hay. 'They are not giving out tents,' he says. 'they are only giving them to rich people and people with political connections. I know a man with connections in Balakot and I got a tent from him, but I gave it to my neighbour. He has lots of young children with him, and for us it's just my mother and me.'"

[Ed: The UK government is making great play about the 14 million Tamiflu doses that will create a safety barrier if Asian flu arrives here. What it doesn't draw attention to is that these doses are sufficient only for a course of treatment for about a million people. Meanwhile much publicity is being given to encouraging old people to become vaccinated against flu viruses of the past on the grounds that "it will strengthen their immune systems". What utter public relations rubbish.]