Anger grows among quake survivors

Most of the dead remain beneath the rubble of towns and villages Search for survivors

Anger is mounting among survivors of the South Asia earthquake over the apparently slow response to a disaster that killed at least 20,000.

As law and order breaks down, looting has been reported in Pakistan. Across the border in India meanwhile, rescuers have yet to reach some remote villages.

But the first significant deliveries of aid have arrived in the wrecked capital of Pakistani-run Kashmir, Muzaffarabad.

And in Balakot, several children and a woman were pulled alive from rubble.

Map of earthquake zone

A specialist French rescue team retrieved five children from the wreckage of a school in the town, one of the areas worst hit in Saturday's giant quake.

At least a hundred children are thought to have been inside when the earthquake struck, bringing the huge concrete roof straight down on top of them.

Using sniffer dogs and special cameras, the French team found four boys and one girl alive with only minor injuries in the early hours of Tuesday.

In the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, British rescuers brought an Iraqi woman and her two-year-old son out of the rubble of a collapsed apartment building unscathed.

The same team also made contact with two women under the rubble and hoped to extract them in turn.

In other developments:

• The Indian authorities say more than 1,000 people are known to have died in Indian-run Kashmir

  Amid scenes of death, destruction and destitution, the rescue effort begins In pictures

• The United Jihad Council, a grouping of Islamist fighters in Indian-run Kashmir, declares a temporary truce and calls on fighters to assist the aid effort

• The United Nations is launching an international appeal for funds to help with the survivors' immediate needs.

Dozens of lorries carrying food, water and medicines have arrived In Muzaffarabad, where 11,000 people are thought to have died.

Officials say they now have 20 helicopters engaged in relief and rescue operations.

Earlier, desperate survivors reportedly targeted military lorries, snatching food, tents and medicines.

WORST-HIT AREAS Pakistani-run Kashmir: At least 17,000 dead Pakistan's North-West Frontier province: At least 1,600 dead Islamabad: At least 25 dead Indian-run Kashmir: At least 1,000 dead At a glance: Quake impact Send us stories and pictures Reporters' log October 11

One group broke into a petrol station to get fuel to burn wood for cooking and heating, while others stole government cars and jeeps.

The BBC's Aamer Ahmed Khan says shopkeepers have been guarding their stores round the clock and hurling stones at would-be thieves.

Our correspondent says there have been several cases of looters entering damaged houses and making off with whatever they find.

"People are starving," said quake survivor Akram Shah. "They have lost all their family members, their belongings... Nobody is helping us to find them."

The city's assistant commissioner, Masood-ur Rehman, said 90% of victims were still buried under the debris as troops combed the streets.

In the remote town of Bagh, magistrate Raja Mohamed Irshad said people were not mourning their dead, but their "ties with the government".

Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao said the government had done its best to deliver aid, but the quake had blocked roads and cut communications.

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