Army troops on Tuesday reached hitherto inaccessible areas in the quake-battered Jammu and Kashmir along with volunteers and non governmental organisations to help the state government in providing succour to the victims even as death count in weekend's tragedy mounted to over 1300.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited worst-hit Tangdhar and Uri sectors and announced an additional Rs 500 crore relief to the state to cope with the devastation wreaked by the temblor.
Describing the tragedy as a national calamity, he said 1300 people had perished and 4,500 were injured in the quake that flattened or damaged 32,000 houses.
The centre would share the state's burden and Rs 500 crore was not the final figure, Singh said, adding, "whatever is required for rehabilitation, we will provide."
Civilians on Tuesday joined government and security forces in a big way, contributing food and clothes for victims of the killer quake.
People in almost every locality in Srinagar donated clothes, blankets, ration and whatever they could manage in response to frequent appeals put across through loudspeakers. Clothes, food items and blankets piled up at Batmaloo, Rambagh, Channipora, Nowhatta, Dandanderkhah, Maisuma and other localities.
A Defence spokesman said army personnel had reached 90 per cent of hitherto inaccessible areas in Uri and Tangdhar to assist the civil administration in rescue and relief work.
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