A girl waits while food is distributed to victims of the earthquake in Pakistan, Wednesday.
Residents of the northern Pakistani town of Muzaffarabad, affected by last Saturday's earthquake, jump to get some food given as aid, Wednesday Oct. 12, 2005. (AP Photo / Lefteris Pitarakis) Pakistani men carry a body after they retrieved it from the rubble of a collapsed apartment complex destroyed in last Saturday's earthquake in the northern Pakistani town of Muzaffarabad, Wednesday Oct. 12, 2005.(AP Photo / Lefteris Pitarakis)
India helps Pakistan in earthquake effort
CTV.ca News Staff
The devastation caused by last week's earthquake appears to be easing the traditional rivalry between Pakistan and India.
Indian troops have crossed the line dividing the disputed Kashmir region to help their Pakistani neighbours rebuild destroyed bunkers.
Both India and Pakistan have also relaxed travel restrictions, allowing some Kashmiri families to return home via the border in Punjab.
Meanwhile, as relief efforts in the worst affected areas were being stepped up, a strong aftershock shook Pakistan Thursday morning, just five days after a massive earthquake killed tens of thousands and left millions homeless.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 5.6-magnitude aftershock was centered about 85 miles northeast of Islamabad. It was not immediately clear if it caused any damage.
Meanwhile hope for finding any remaining survivors after Saturday's 7.6-magnitude quake began to fade as bitter winter weather set in.
The Pakistani government has put the official death toll at about 23,000 with 47,000 injured, but some reports suggest the toll could be much higher.
However there was one bright moment Wednesday when rescuers pulled a five-year-old girl out of the rubble, 100 hours after her home crumbled on her.
"I want to drink," the dust-covered girl named Zarabe Shah whispered to rescuers.
Zarabe's father and two sisters were killed in the quake, which killed up to 23,000, but her mother and another two sisters survived.
A day after bad weather temporarily grounded efforts, rescue work resumed and aid began pouring into the affected regions.
However reports from the scene indicate there are still concerns about a lack of co-ordination, with supplies yet to reach some far-flung areas in the mountainous Pakistani Kashmir.
CTV's Murray Oliver, reporting from Islamabad, described the scene as "a kind of survival of the fittest."
"It's crowded, cold and there's little here to eat or drink," he said. "There is little distribution of aid outside the cities."
Many bodies are still buried beneath piles of concrete, steel and wood.
"Our resources are very stretched," said army Colonel Y.P. Sayyaj in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province. "Every time we rush to one place we hear of another place that is worse.
The United Nations has appealed for $272 million for quake survivors.
About 30 countries -- including the United States, Jordan, China, Russia, Iran, and Syria -- have sent relief equipment, medical staff, tents, blankets, medicine, and disaster relief teams. Many have also pledged financial assistance.
Canada is dispatching Afghanistan-based Canadian Forces aircraft loaded with blankets to the affected area.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Pakistan after saying Washington would likely add to the $50 million US it has committed to the quake recovery effort.
As aid begins to trickle in, health experts are warning the Himalayan region could become a fertile breeding ground for disease.
United Nations officials are warning of a growing threat of measles, cholera, and diarrhea outbreaks among the millions of survivors.
Regional sanitation systems are damaged, hospitals have been destroyed, and victims are left without clean drinking water, making them more vulnerable to outbreaks.
Nighttime temperatures are already falling to as low as 6 degrees Celsius and will drop even further by the end of the week -- further compounding the misery.
The UN estimates that some 4 million people have been affected by Saturday's quake, including 2 million who have been left homeless.
In Indian-held Kashmir, authorities say at least 1,200 people are known to have died, but officials fear the number will rise.
While Aid starts to pour in to the worst hit areas of South Asia Earthquake that has killed more than 30,000 people, bad weather is hampering the relief efforts with snow falling on the peaks of the earthquake-devastated areas of Pakistan.

The measure of human suffering can't just be measured in the death toll, which officially stands at 23,000, but also in the 4 million who have been made homeless, hungry, and cold with 1 million in acute need, facing certain death without outside assistance. In the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir, authorities say at least 1,300 people are known to have died, but officials fear the number will rise.

ABC Australia reports of a man in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, who has been cut from aid, saying "I find that we are alone now. We have nothing. We are finished."

Choppers are the main lifeline of support; trucks are unable to deliver relief supplies due to looting and general mayhem on the ground. The more snow, the less able aid agencies are to make their way to those in the direst need.

Jan Vandemoortele, U.N. Resident Coordinator for Pakistan, said key roads into the quake zone have been reopened, as 30 countries including Australia, France, Japan, Jordan, China, Russia, Iran, Syria and the US provide assistance in the form of money, doctors, tents, blankets, and disaster relief teams.

United Nations officials are warning of a growing threat of measles, cholera, and diarrhea outbreaks among the millions of survivors.

There have been no reports of epidemic outbreaks so far, but the area's health infrastructure has completely collapsed, Vandemoortele said.