PAKISTAN: The first harsh winter weather has arrived at Pakistan's earthquake zone, with rain and snow bringing relief operations to a halt and gloom to survivors.
Up to 20 cm (8 ins) of snow fell yesterday in some high-altitude areas and up to 32 mm (1.2 ins) of rain drenched some lower areas. The temperature in Muzaffarabad in Pakistani Kashmir fell to a low of 4 degrees (39 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday night.
"Flights are off for today," said a spokesman for the UN World Food Programme in Muzaffarabad. An International Committee of the Red Cross official said its air and road operations had also been called off.
The October 8th earthquake killed more than 73,000 people.
A race against time is on to ensure hundreds of thousands of homeless survivors are given adequate shelter and enough food to see them through a bitter winter.
If not, disease could sweep through cold, poorly nourished survivors, causing a second wave of death, aid officials say.
Fresh landslides, apparently triggered by the rain, disrupted traffic on the road to the Pieer Chanasi village. Authorities hope people in high-altitude settlements will come down to tent camps on valley floors for the winter, but most have chosen to stick it out at their ruined homes.
Aid officials are making plans in case bad weather sends a flood of people down into unsanitary and over-crowded tent camps in Muzaffarabad and other towns.
The Red Cross official said good weather up to now had meant aid deliveries were slightly ahead of schedule, but prolonged bad weather would be a worry.