ISLAMABAD , 22 March 2007 (IRIN) - At least six bodies were recovered from rubble in a landslide-hit village of Pakistani-administered Kashmir on Thursday, while Pakistani soldiers and local villagers continued their search for another 20 missing people, aid officials said.

A four-day long spell of torrential rains and snow, which stopped late on Wednesday, triggered landslides that hit mountainous hamlets and blocked already hard to access roads across the region - which was devastated by a massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake in October 2005.

However, better weather on Thursday allowed helicopters to fly to the landslide-hit Doba Syedan village in the Jhelum Valley and evacuate about 14 injured people, including eight women and two girls. They were taken to hospitals in the regional capital, Muzaffarabad, said John Sampsom, head of the International Organization for Migration's (IOM) sub-office in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

The death toll caused by recent landslides in quake-affected Pakistani-administered Kashmir rose to 46 on Thursday.

On Thursday, three helicopters participated in emergency operations – one each from the Pakistan army, the international Aga Khan Development Network charity and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). They brought tents, food and medicines to about 350 stranded families in Doba Syedan, which is more than 1,500 metres above sea level.

An IOM Rapid Response Team has also been despatched to the calamity-hit village to carry out a detailed assessment of the needs of the stranded families and evaluate options for their evacuation and further assistance.

"The landslide survivors have been moved to a relatively safe place, but still that slide is moving and we need to have a detailed evaluation of whether they need to be evacuated, and if so, when and how," IOM's Sampson said.

Preparations are underway to prepare a makeshift settlement at Hattian Bala, in case the Doba Syedan villagers needed to be evacuated, according to aid officials.

Access to landslide-hit villages remains almost impossible by land. Road authorities and army engineers have been working to unblock roads.

World Food Programme trucks carrying the first batch of food and non-food relief items for 50 families in Doba Syedan are waiting for roads to be cleared.

"As things stand at the moment, it seems we'll be able to transport relief supplies only by tomorrow afternoon, provided the roads are cleared then," Amjad Jamal, a WFP spokesman, told IRIN in Islamabad.

According to Pakistan's Meteorological Department, another rain spell could hit the region some time next week.

ts/at/ar/ed

IRIN news