Survivors brave devastating conditions in aftermath of Pakistan quake

Islamabad: Pakistanis faced freezing temperatures on Friday as rescue workers continued to pull out bodies from the rubble after an earthquake hit villages in the southwest.

Thousands of people remained homeless two days after the 6.4 magnitude quake struck north of Quetta.

The quake left more than 300 people dead and the death toll is expected to rise, the official Associated Press of Pakistan cited Ziarat Mayor Dilawar Kakar as saying.

Pakistan's government and international aid agencies airlifted tents, medicine and food supplies to the worst-affected areas of Baluchistan province.

"My family and I, including my four young grandchildren, spent all night outdoors,'' the United Nations news service IRIN cited Zairaf Khan, 50, as saying in Ziarat. "No tents and no blankets were provided to us.''

The UN says at least 20,000 people are homeless in the sparsely populated provincial capital of Quetta, southwest of Islamabad.

"Thousands of houses are in ruins,'' IRIN cited local rescuer Farooq Ahma as saying. "The road from Quetta to Ziarat, a stretch of some 70 kilometers, has huge cracks in it and this is making it difficult to bring in relief or take people who need hospital care to Quetta.''

"We need to move fast, so we are going to start distributing food stocks from our warehouses in Quetta and Peshawar, so we can reach the people who most need it,'' said Wolfgang Herbinger, the agency's director in Pakistan.

The US and China offered $1 million each and Japan and Turkey also offered assistance.