Thunderstorms and cold weather look set to bring more misery for survivors of the Kashmir earthquake at the weekend as the focus of international aid efforts turned today from rescue to relief.
International rescue teams began leaving Pakistani Kashmir as efforts shifted from searching for people in the rubble to keeping survivors alive with an eye to winter just weeks away.
Officials denied that the search for survivors had been called off, however.
"After the sixth or seventh day it is so difficult to find a live person. After tomorrow, unfortunately, it will be impossible," said Turkish rescue worker Selahatin Durmaz.
The weather forecast for 48 hours from this evening threatened to disrupt the emergency effort to assist millions affected by last week's quake, including more than a million made homeless and lacking even basic shelter.
Heavy rain and hailstorms in the mountainous earthquake zone in Pakistani Kashmir and North West Frontier Province earlier in the week forced a temporary suspension of flights bringing in essential relief supplies.
More rain is also likely to hamper movement of emergency supplies by road as the United Nations says it is in a race against time to provide aid to people before the winter sets in.
The official death toll of 25,000 in Pakistani Kashmir is expected to rise. Some local officials and politicians say deaths could exceed 40,000. Another 1,200 died in Indian Kashmir.
Strong night-time aftershocks have added to the misery.
Local meteorological officials said there were 70 aftershocks in a 24-hour period between Wednesday and Thursday, and the seismic activity is likely to continue for months, maybe years.
The UN's chief emergency relief co-ordinator, Jan Egeland, called today for a more urgent world aid response. He said there was still an acute shortage of helicopters essential to reach remote villages and that about three times as many were needed.
"This is a very major earthquake but it's really aggravated a thousand times by the topography. An earthquake is bad anywhere, in the Himalayas it becomes much worse," he said.
The army has been airdropping supplies to villages cut off from help in remote valleys in the Himalayan foothills. Where valleys are too narrow and steep-sided for helicopters, mule trains are being sent in with supplies..