Quake update: Helicopters on way

More Nato helicopters were on their way to the quake zone.

The Pakistani Army is working around the clock to open roads blocked or swept away by landslides when the quake struck. Some could take six weeks to reopen.

"The emphasis is on the need for road engineers," World Food Programme spokeswoman Mia Turner said, referring to a Nato decision to send an engineering battalion to clear the roads.

Nato said it would send up to 1000 troops to help, but would not stage an airlift. Helicopters are the only means of getting quickly deep into the hills but Nato said it would send only six more to join the 40 that alliance members have sent.

Cross-border help

India has offered to set up three relief centres along a de facto border dividing it from Pakistan in Kashmir.

Islamabad said it had sent India a proposal for five border crossings.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said relief goods from Pakistan could go to the Indian side of Kashmir through some of the points, and help from the Indian side could reach Pakistani Kashmir through others.

Mules to the rescue

With roads still blocked, mules are one of the only ways to get emergency supplies to cut-off mountain villages.

But like everything else after the disaster, they are in short supply.

Yesterday, a train of more than 40 mules set off from the village of Shaeed Ghali high above Muzaffarabad, the destroyed capital of Pakistani Kashmir, to reach settlements on mountain ridges where helicopters cannot land. They carried enough food from the United Nations World Food Programme to feed 2000 people for a week.

Programme spokeswoman Mia Turner said the Pakistani Army had said it was bringing 50 more mules into the disaster zone and 48 more were at work in the Balakot area of North West Frontier Province.

Each mule can carry 100kg up mountain paths too narrow for trucks or cars.

Mash unit arrives

The United States Army's only mobile field hospital has arrived in Pakistan to help victims of the earthquake.

The Germany-based Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, or Mash unit, was going to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, where it will set up a 44-bed facility, complete with two operating theatres. It can handle 20 major operations daily.

Britain flies in help

Britain has sent the first of three giant helicopters to Pakistan to help in the relief effort.

Britain's Defence Secretary John Reid said the Chinook helicopters would be used to fly aid to stranded survivors. There are reports that some villages have been clearing areas for helicopters to land in a desperate bid to encourage airborne relief.

- AGENCIES