"We have lost our homes and trade and if we don't find material to shelter our families ... then all will be lost," wept Mumtaz Ali of Kalgai, a village near the de facto border with Pakistan.

The young mother spoke of "ice from the sky" as sleet fell heavily Sunday on the Line of Control which divides the two zones of Kashmir.

Almost non-stop rain that turned to sleet and snow at higher altitudes started Friday, fracturing a tenuous supply line to some 150,000 survivors in this worst-hit area of Indian-held Kashmir.

The weather briefly improved but snow fell again Monday on this mountainous frontier area forcing a halt to helicopter relief flights.

"The snowfall has been very heavy and it is unusual at this time of the year in Kashmir," state meteorological department chief L.C. Ram told AFP.

About 90 percent of the survivors remain homeless from the October 8 tremor that killed at least 1,330 Indians and left more than 5,000 others injured.

Some 117,000 houses were destroyed or damaged by the 7.6-strength quake which killed more than 53,000 in neighbouring Pakistan.

Residents of cut-off villages such as Bani, Addusa, Nawaien Rundan and Chakra also face frequent aftershocks that spark rockfalls and landslides.

With the onset of winter, Kashmiris say they see no choice but to take to the mountain paths in search of aid.

"The snow is already here and we cannot find plastic sheets or tents in Kashmir bazaars," said Gulzar Ahmed of Athruth, or Helping Hand, which groups private aid agencies.

India, meanwhile announced plans to dispatch more relief including tents to Pakistan.

"India sent 50 tents to Pakistan in the first aid package, 320 in the second and will be despatching 250 tents in the third consignment due to leave later Monday," a foreign ministry official in New Delhi said.

"This is a cruel joke," said Kashmir aid worker Mohammed Nazir. "People here are begging for tents and India is sending relief to Pakistan to improve its image in the international community."

Mehbooba Mufti, president of Kashmir's ruling People's Democratic Party, said only 6,000 tents had been provided for the homeless here so far, although the state's chief aid coordinator Vijay Bakaya said more than double that number had been given out.

"We have so far distributed 14,000 tents but we need 30,000 and we have no stocks in our hands," Bakaya admitted, adding the administration had sent an SOS to India's 28 other states.

The government relief coordinator also unveiled plans to bring in prefabricated buildings.

"A process to build prefabricated cold-proof community centres will begin in a couple of days where people can shelter at nights and work outside during the day to rebuild their homes," Bakaya told AFP.

He said experts from New Delhi had been enlisted to build the community shelters within a time span of 15 days.

Relief workers scoffed at Bakaya's comments, saying the quake victims, especially children, were in danger of developing hypothermia.

"We are talking in terms of hours and the administration is drawing grand, long-term strategies. Is it out of its mind?" asked Shakeel Bakshi, Helping Hand chief coordinator.

One woman threatened to throw rocks at relief-loaded trucks on Sunday in Salamabad, near Kalgai, some 110 kilometres (70 miles) from Indian Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar.

She begged for a tent for her three rain-sodden children, but received only biscuits.

"Please, please don't go away ... my children will not survive another night in the cold," the unidentified woman screamed as the truck pulled off.

She dropped down on the slush-covered road and wept.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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