Pakistan struggled to haul food and shelter to millions of earthquake victims, as the United States promised more helicopters for the relief effort and urged     NATO to divert resources from Afghanistan.

The skies cleared after rains lashed devastated northeast Pakistan Tuesday, halting crucial airlifts and aid deliveries, but the misery continued for 2.5 million homeless survivors who are in desperate need of help as winter arrives.

"That was the fourth night we slept in the open," said Khurshid Bibi, pointing to her family of 15 camped on the roadside outside their collapsed house in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan's side of divided     Kashmir.

"We were very, very cold. We need tents and blankets," she said after waking up to see snow had fallen on the peaks surrounding the ruined city of 125,000 which has been reduced to piles of crushed concrete.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has agreed to begin an airlift of humanitarian supplies to the quake zone where millions are stranded in the cold and wet with little food or medical treatment.

But US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said it should also consider sending from "next door" in Afghanistan, earth-moving equipment and choppers which are vital for reaching remote areas.

Pakistan said the US would send 24 more giant Chinook heavy lift helicopters next week, to join the eight US choppers which are already ferrying in aid and evacuating critically injured victims to Islamabad.

Two German helicopters and four Afghan helicopters are also due to arrive in Pakistan in coming days, in answer to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's plea for more aircraft.

Authorities said the death toll from Saturday's quake has hit 23,000, although relief agencies believe as many as 40,000 have died and up to 60,000 are injured in the disaster.

On the Indian side of Kashmir, officials said the death toll had hit 1,300 and many villages remain completely cut off.

Desperately-needed supplies began rolling in to Muzaffarabad on Tuesday but torrential storms grounded helicopter missions for several hours and severely hampered the relief effort on the broken roads below.

Soldiers were forced to temporarily give up the grim task of gathering corpses from the streets, and the foul weather stole precious hours from private relief groups who were handing out food, blankets, clothing and water.

The lashing rain brought fresh heartbreak for survivors who were too afraid to take shelter in what was left of their homes, and shivered outside with only scraps of plastic and damp blankets to protect them from the cold night air.

Short-lived scuffles broke out in Muzaffarabad when the limited aid efforts briefly got underway, as police were pushed and shoved after they ran out of blankets they were distributing to families with babies.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz appealed to the international community to send more money, tents and medicines, and then heavy equipment to help rebuild shattered communities.

The United Nations warned of "enormous logistical difficulties" in mounting the relief effort across the quake zone because of the rugged terrain, where landslides have cut many roads, allowing access only by foot or by helicopter.

The world body issued a "flash appeal" for more than 270 million dollars to add to the hundreds of millions already pledged by the international community.

India, Pakistan's longtime rival and nuclear neighbour, planned to send 25 tonnes of supplies Tuesday in the first such aid delivery in decades.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Pakistani girl, wounded in last Saturday's earthquake waits to be airlifted to the capital Islamabad for treatment, at an army base in the northern Pakistani town of Muzaffarabad, Wednesday Oct. 12, 2005. (AP)