ISLAMABAD, Oct 26: Three more aviation bases have been readied by the army to speed up delivery of relief goods to people affected by the October 8 quake. Brigadier Imtiaz Shirazi told Dawn that the three additional bases, at Dhamial, Peshawar and Tarbela were ready to handle the operation while Chaklala would be acting as the central hub.

The bases would be assigned different sectors in the quake- stricken regions for the delivery of aid.

Additionally, the army is operating six forward bases, in Muzzafarabad, Bagh, Rawalakot, Balakot, Batgram and Mansehra, for delivery of relief to far-flung areas.

The total number of helicopters operating by Wednesday was 95 and Brigadier Shirazi said he hoped the figure would cross 100 with the arrived of Nato helicopters.

Shortage of helicopters was one of the biggest hurdles in delivering aid to the so far inaccessible region.

Meanwhile, a large consignment of supplies sent by Nato reached here on Wednesday morning when a Boeing 747 carrying 87 tons of goods landed at the Chaklala Airbase.

The aircraft brought 42 pallets of tents, blankets and stoves from UNHCR’s warehouse in southern Turkey.

A Boeing 747 cargo plane can carry about eight times the tonnage of the military C-130s that have been ferrying supplies to Islamabad since October 19.

The Boeing 747’s would now fly daily to Islamabad boosting the supply of relief items as relief workers race against time to help the survivors flights would be in addition to the C-130 flights.

With the rapid approach of winter in the region, providing shelter, feed and other aid to hundreds of thousands of people has become urgent.

An estimated 15,000 affected towns and villages in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP are struggling to find any kind of shelter amid a deadly mix of continuing aftershocks, broken supply routes and cold and wet weather.