ISLAMABAD, Oct 13: Although relief efforts in the earthquake-stricken areas of Azad Kashmir and the NWFP gained pace, the government said on Thursday it would not be possible to provide shelter to all survivors before winter sets in.

The government updated death toll to 25,000 from 23,000 cited a day earlier, but said the figure was bound to rise after facts were known about the extent of damage in the Neelum and Jhelum valleys that had not been reached by authorities yet.

The authorities were reported to have moved in strongly to prevent snatching of relief goods from trucks by desperate people and in some cases alleged thugs while on way to worst-hit six districts of Azad Kashmir and the NWFP.

“Till now, 25,000 people have keen killed and more than 52,000 injured,” Federal Relief Commissioner Maj-Gen Farooq Ahmad Khan told reporters. But, he said, the figure “is likely to rise”.

While two army divisions have been deployed in Azad Kashmir and one division in the NWFP, Gen Khan said Neelum and Jhelum valleys “are still closed”, adding that the “vast devastation of this area is a challenging task for us”.

Asked if the government would be able to provide shelter to the homeless before winter, he said: “I can’t say for sure and it is not untrue to say that it is not possible.”

The general cited shortage of blankets and tents. “We are importing two million blankets. All tents have been bought and all factories are running round the clock and booked. The effort is that before cold becomes severe, people are given shelter.”

He put foreign aid pledges so far at $350 million and said it would be an exaggeration to say that “we will reach each and every person in a matter of days. The damage to infrastructure is so grave (and) destruction is so widespread that we cannot reach so quickly each and every area.”

The relief commissioner said he could not claim that relief goods had been sent to all affected areas, but he advised the media to “keep things in their true perspective.”

He said the government planned to re-raise the destroyed towns and cities that he noted would cost not only in terms of money but also in terms of time.

“Many international organizations are being consulted for the reconstruction of the destructed areas,” he said.

About half of the 3.5 million population of Azad Kashmir was badly affected by the earthquake, he said.

While most of the civil administration in Azad Kashmir “has died, got buried under the rubble”, the federal government has decided to post a number of civil officers there to boost the administration’s capability, he said.

“The president’s house, the IG house, the commissioner’s house, the chief secretary’s house, you name any, all have been demolished,” he said. “How do you expect the civil administration that is decimated to carry out this operation?” he asked.

VILLAGES AWAIT AID: While government spokesmen said aid was flowing in large quantities in the affected areas, relief had not reached in most villages. Residents in villages of Khawara area and in Bagh district like Dhirkot and nearby Pail and Rangla said people were waiting for aid and still living in the open. “There is more talking than doing,” Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Amanullah Khan told Dawn after visiting Muzaffarabad where he said he had seen some foreign rescues doing a “wonderful work”.