ISLAMABAD, 15 October 2005 — Thunderstorms and cold weather promised more misery for survivors of Saturday’s earthquake in Pakistan as the United Nations called for more urgency in the world’s response to the tragedy.

International rescue teams began leaving Pakistani Kashmir as efforts shifted from searching for people in the rubble to keeping survivors alive with an eye on 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 today threatened to disrupt the emergency effort to assist millions affected by the 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, even 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 1,300 died in Indian Kashmir.

Strong night-time aftershocks have added to the misery. An aftershock at around 2 a.m. yesterday sent people who had been sleeping on the pavement in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir, leaping to the middle of the road, eyeing what was left of buildings warily before drifting back. Local meteorological officials said there were 70 aftershocks in a 24-hour period between Wednesday and Thursday, and the seismic activity was likely to continue for months, maybe years.

The United Nations’ chief emergency relief coordinator sought tsunami-type urgency in distributing relief. Jan Egeland said the fact that the emphasis was now on relief instead of search and rescue was a “cruel reality,” and stressed the massive effort needed better organization to be effective.

“We are losing the race against the clock to get to those wounded,” he said. “Already Muzaffarabad is a traffic jam. The number one priority is to get to those who have nothing,” Egeland said, adding that the entire relief effort had to work together seamlessly. “If we don’t, we will become a disaster within a disaster.” Egeland said hundreds of millions of dollars were needed for “just saving lives and keeping people alive” with the bitter winter approaching.

— Additional input from agencies