Jolie, who has been a UN High Commissioner for Refugees goodwill ambassador since 2001, visited the flattened mountain town of Balakot in a "show of support for survivors of the disaster", the UNHCR said.

The Oscar-winner, who is making her third visit to Pakistan and her second this year, also took part in a helicopter airlift of food, blankets and tarpaulins, the agency said in a statement.

It did not give details about Pitt, with whom Jolie has been romantically linked since his split from Friends star Jennifer Aniston.

However witnesses said he had accompanied Jolie, his co-star in the summer blockbuster Mr and Mrs Smith, during some of her activities.

Before boarding her flight for Pakistan the Tomb Raider star said she had been looking deeper into refugee issues during a two-day visit to the UNHCR headquarters in Geneva.

"These are complex subjects," the UNHCR statement quoted her as saying. "But if I'm to be an effective advocate for refugees, I need to know what I'm talking about."

The quake killed 73,000 people in Pakistan -- of whom half were children according to the UN Children's Fund -- and left around 500,000 families homeless.

Jolie adopted a Cambodian child, Maddox, in 2002 and earlier this year she adopted an Ethiopian girl called Zahara.

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