ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: Rain and hailstorms hampered rescue and relief work in quake-stricken areas on Tuesday as the government-estimated death toll from Saturday’s disaster in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP mounted to 30,000.

The government deployed thousands of more army troops to join the relief work that seemed to be gaining momentum after complaints by the sufferers about absence or slow arrival of help after Saturday’s earthquake.

Heavy rains and hailstorms hit the quake-stricken region in early afternoon on Tuesday, making the relief workers’ task difficult although aid had started pouring in after some key roads blocked by landslides were reopened for traffic.

There was still confusion about the number of casualties in the quake-hit districts of Azad Kashmir and the NWFP.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told newsmen that at least 23,000 people were killed — compared to Monday’s official figure of a little over 20,000 — and about 51,000 injured but said the casualty figure could rise.

Health Minister Mohammad Nasir Khan said in the National Assembly 25,000 to 30,000 people had been killed and about 45,000 injured.

Some private television channels have quoted a much higher death toll ranging from 33,000 to over 50,000.

“Casualty figures are difficult to predict and vary greatly,” the United Nations said as it issued an initial appeal for about $271.8 million to help the victims of the quake that measured 7.6 on the Richter scale and also devastated parts of occupied Kashmir and Afghanistan.

“On the second day (after the quake), officials stated 18,000 casualties whereas on the third day other officials were quoting over 30,000 dead”, the appeal document said. “Neither figure can be confirmed, but higher figures are to be expected as rescue and recovery operations continue”, it added.

While relief goods began arriving in worst-hit Muzaffarabad and Balakot town, survivors in villages still awaited most needed aid like tents, blankets and medicines.

“Some roads have been opened and relief goods have started arriving,” Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat told a private television channel as he sat in his tent at the lawns of his damaged official residence in Muzaffarabad along with Kashmir Affairs Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat, Law Minister Mohammad Wasi Zafar and Minister of State for Overseas Pakistanis Tariq Azeem Khan.

“Muzaffarabad has been completely destroyed,” Mr Hayat said about the Azad Kashmir capital where rescuers were still looking for signs of life under the rubble while many stinking bodies from the thousands of people killed there still lay unburied.

“Neither any office has survived nor any official has remained unaffected,” he said.

He said Muzaffarabad had been the worst sufferer followed by Bagh and Rawalakot towns.

Doctors and relief workers have voiced fears of epidemics because of a total breakdown of the sanitation system and possible decomposition of bodies still buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the federal government had mobilised all resources to meet the major catastrophe and given Rs500 million each to the Azad Kashmir and NWFP governments to cope with the situation.

Army convoys were seen moving towards the stricken areas along with some earth-moving machinery whose lack had made it difficult to extricate victims from the heavy rubble.

In Peshawar, NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani said relief and rescue activities were in top gear in his province’s quake-hit districts.

He said the provincial government had demanded Rs500 million from the federal government for initial repair of the damaged infrastructure and for relief measures.

President Pervez Musharraf has called a meeting of the National Security Council for Wednesday to discuss the situation to which Azad Kashmir President Sardar Mohammad Anwar and Prime Minister Hayat have also been invited.