"So many of our relatives and friends died here, buried under the rubble," he says. "In the community school for boys alone, some 100 children died. They were our future."

For the surviving residents of the tightly-knit Chala Bandi village here in the Neelum Valley, he says, aid is something that remains far out of reach, 15 days after Pakistan's worst-ever calamity.

Kiani is not aware of any UN conference taking place in faraway Geneva. But he says he knows one thing -- that many people in his village could have been saved if the international response had been quicker.

"For days, we had to get children and survivors out from the rubble with our bare hands," he says.

No houses are left standing in the village, and the three-storey school building has been reduced to rubble, where surviving children now roam looking for books and supplies to salvage.

A buffalo feeding on a patch of grass is what remains of the family livelihood, and tents cobbled together from blankets and plastic form the nucleus of the community.

In all, the 7.6 magnitude quake killed more than 50,000 people and left millions homeless as the winter approaches the isolated villages of the Jhelum and Neelum Valleys and other parts of Pakistani Kashmir.

"We don't think this will be rebuilt," says Bashir's nephew Tanve, standing on the collapsed roof of the clan's home.

Earlier the same day, the body of another Kiani family member, Raja Daud Kiani, was pulled from rubble on the mountain pass.

A construction worker, Raja was on his post when the quake struck, burying him and three colleagues.

With nearly the entire road infrastructure of Pakistan-administered Kashmir destroyed, the buildings levelled, and hospitals and schools in ruins, many residents are beginning to lose hope that aid will arrive.

"What aid?" said Tanve. "We have not received anything, except from Muslim relief organizations."

The United Nations says it has only received a small portion of the pledges made three weeks ago, and that more tents to shelter survivors from the snow need to be brought in fast.

The United States, Pakistan's ally in the 'war on terror', says it will boost its humanitarian assistance, but Muslim aid organizations, who were among the first groups to respond, say much leaves to be desired.

Delivery of aid is being hampered by the extremely difficult mountain terrain, says Lieutenant Kevin Stephens, spokesman for the American field hospital that began operating here Tuesday.

The US hospital unit had to be transported by road from Islamabad for 26 hours, and Stephens concedes that the "roads remain difficult."

Compared to areas hit by the tsunami that brought destruction to Indian Ocean countries from Indonesia to Sri Lanka last year, "the terrain here is much more difficult, the areas are harder to reach," he says.

"This is certainly one of the world's major disasters, and we will be here as long as we're needed."

Syed Jawid Gillani, coordinator of the Britain-based Islamic relief organization Muslim Hands, which has set up medical camps and shelters near the Neelum Valley, says late aid was better than none.

"There is still a huge aid requirement," he says. "They should contribute more money to this effort because many more lives are at stake. It may be a bit late, but more aid is still welcome.

"We have to feed 2,000 people here everyday, and while there are still resources, winter could be a problem. There is a need for tents."

Volunteer doctor Kashif Khawata notes that aid came in slowly initially, but that the key now is to keep the momentum going.

"The medical side is slowly making progress, but more needs to be done," he says. "The main thing is to provide the basic needs, but donors should not stop at relief work.

"This is going to be a long-term scenario. That is my message to the donors."

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