UN warns of chilling winter in quake zone

By Reuters, Geneva
UN weather experts said on Friday unusually low temperatures and heavy snowfall would soon hit areas of Pakistani Kashmir, jeopardising efforts to feed and shelter survivors of the South Asian earthquake.

Aid agencies renewed appeals for funds to keep open a lifeline to the millions left homeless in remote parts of the Himalayas by the October 8 quake, many of them injured.

"The situation is getting more and more desperate," said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said that winter was only three weeks away and initial reports suggested the weather would be unusually cold in the stricken mountain areas.