The earthquake in the magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale that struck the northern regions of Pakistan has had a tremendous toll on humans and their meager belongings. Wiping out entire villages and killing more than 35,000 people including many schoolchildren trapped under the rubble of school buildings, the toll on humans remains ever ominous as aftershocks linger, numbering more than 50 since the first one making it extremely hostile for aid to be delivered where needed.

In the bustling city of Muzaffarabad, which was very close to the epicenter of the quake, only about 20 percent of the town remains intact. This capital of the Pakistani Kashmir is today littered with rubble, trapping beneath it decomposing bodies of its unfortunate victims. The smell of corpses wafts through the air, intermingled with the desperate pleas of those still trapped there.

Nestled in a valley surrounded by high mountains, an aftershock of the quake made roads practically impassable and the delivery of aid and much needed supplies a daunting mission to this city. Many countries had immediately responded to this catastrophe, volunteering money and supplies before they were even solicited. The Saudi government was among the first to dispatch relief supplies and much needed medical aid.

And while relief operations began pouring in very soon after the quake, it became apparent that it was not an easy task to deliver help and aid where needed. Deprived of food and water for several days as relief teams circumvented blocked mountain passes, and faced with rain and the cold, many decayed and died.

And with the cold and fierce storms of winter rapidly approaching this Himalayan region, the urgency for medicine, food, shelter and blankets is very apparent, with over two million people rendered homeless. In a helicopter flight over the region, UN relief coordinator Jan Egeland was very emphatic and emotional when he stated: “I fear we are losing the race against the clock in the small villages cut off by blocked roads. I’ve never seen such devastation before. We are in the sixth day of operation, and every day the scale of devastation is getting wider.”

While the Pakistani government called off the search for more survivors on Thursday to zero in on delivering much needed aid to those homeless, there still remain pockets of life in the region slowly being abandoned as relief workers face an increasingly daunting task of getting there to help.

Helicopters have somewhat managed to circumvent some of the impassable areas and dropped supplies, but more should be done. More helicopters and more volunteers to try and attempt at saving those still trapped under the rubble. We cannot simply turn our backs or wash our hands of them.

Human ingenuity has allowed us to scale horizons never dreamed of in the past. We have conquered our oceans and our stratosphere. We have today connected the world, and landed on two other ones.

But in the region of Muzaffarabad, we are slowly deserting that very principle, and along with it the hopes of those who linger in this city of death. May God grant them the strength to persevere.