Asian Quake Toll Rises to 87,000

The estimated death toll from last month's south Asian earthquake rose again today to 87,000 with warnings that thousands more will die as the savage Himalayan winter sets in.

A month after the devastating disaster, the head of the United Nations' humanitarian efforts, Jan Egeland, said survivors in Kashmir would "freeze to death if they don't get assistance in weeks".

The UN once again appealed for more money to help victims - $42.4m (£24.4m) is needed to keep the aid operation going throughout November - and urged donors to be as generous as they have been for other recent disasters.

The toll in Pakistan has reached 86,000 - or 13,000 higher than the government's official toll so far - under a broad assessment by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, working with local governments and aid agencies. India has reported 1,350 deaths in its portion of divided Kashmir.

Iqbal Khan, a Pakistani finance ministry official, said the new tally for Pakistan came after more bodies were pulled from debris and recovery teams reached areas previously blocked by landslides unleashed by the 7.6 magnitude quake on October 8 and its hundreds of aftershocks.

"This is their assessment, which we think is fair enough," Mr Khan said. "They had various teams in the field."

Aid officials fear that winter could bring a new wave of deaths among survivors.

"It's even more urgent than it was in these other hurricanes or tsunamis," Mr Egeland said, urging everyone from individuals to oil-rich nations to contribute.

The quake destroyed the homes of more than three million people across Pakistan's North-West Frontier province and its portion of Kashmir, many of whom have moved into the many tent camps that have been set up in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Mr Egeland said the UN had launched Operation Winter Race to bring shelter to about 200,000 people living above the snow line and about 150,000 expected to come down to tent camps at lower elevations. "The concept is one warm room per family before it becomes too cold," he said.

He added that he was encouraged that 334,000 tents had been delivered and that 332,000 more were in the pipeline, "and that should be enough" if all arrive and are distributed. But he issued an urgent appeal for stoves to help keep people warm.

Survivors continue to stream into Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, where they receive tents from aid agencies before trudging out of town with canvas and poles on their backs in search of any flat ground not already claimed by other survivors.

But the camps lack adequate clean water and sanitation, aid workers say. "Unless conditions are improved in these camps, diseases like cholera could spread like wildfire," said Oxfam's quake relief head Jane Cockin.