Snow, rain disrupt Pak quake relief

Indian Kashmiri residents cross a bridge on the Line of Control, dividing Kashmir between Pakistan and Indian in Nauseri-Tithwal Saturday. A second group of nine Kashmiri civilians from Indian-held Kashmir crossed on foot for the first time in 60 years to check on the safety of relatives on the other side after the October 8 quake which killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and 1,300 in Indian Kashmir.. PHOTO: AFP

The Meteorological Department said up to eight inches (20 cm) of snow had fallen in some high-altitude areas and up to 32 mm (1.2 inches) of rain had fallen in some lower areas.

"Flights are off for today," said a spokesman for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.

An official of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said their air operations had also been called off because of the weather.

The Oct. 8 earthquake killed more than 73,000 people, most of them in the Pakistani Himalayas, and seriously injured a similar number.

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.

Aid officials say disease could sweep through cold, poorly nourished survivors of Pakistan's worst natural disaster, causing a second wave of death.

The ICRC official said good weather up to now meant aid deliveries were slightly ahead of schedule, but prolonged bad weather would be a worry.

"We have been very lucky -- or the survivors have -- that we've been able to fly for a month without interruption," said Pauli Immonen, in charge of ICRC air operations.