Streams of people clambered into the hills of northern Pakistan carrying aid back to earthquake-hit villages today as clear weather helped a huge relief operation accelerate.
Some villagers had trekked as much as 35 kilometres to the wrecked town of Muzaffarabad to pick up food and blankets as the harsh Himalayan winter approaches.
"We are desperate," said Muhammad Naeem after walking seven hours with dozens of men, women and teenage boys from his village in the Neelum valley, a region cut off by landslides and which he said had received only a few air drops.
"Our houses have been destroyed and we have nothing left," he said before turning back again. "But we can take only a very small quantity of goods on foot as it is a very difficult and long walk to our village up in the hills."
The quake killed at least 41,000 in Pakistan and injured 67,000; in Indian Kashmir a further 1,300 people died.
In the North West Frontier Province town of Balakot, soldiers pulled a six-year-old child from the rubble of her home today, nine days after the quake struck. A fallen cupboard protected her, and she had only a minor head injury.
Helicopters, back in the air after weekend rains grounded the only means of getting aid deep into the mountains quickly, delivered supplies and brought back people who had lain injured since the quake 10 days ago.
However, helicopters have not been able to reach some mountainside communities -- forcing many desperate villagers to trek for hours or days, in search of help.