DOZENS of quake survivors forced their way onto two UN helicopters involved in the relief effort and demanded to be taken out of a Kashmir village.

Torrential downpours today threatened to cause crucial delays in quake relief efforts in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, where only a fraction of the tents needed for an estimated 2.3 million people left homeless have been provided as winter nears.

Rains compounded the misery of millions of homeless victims a week after Pakistan’s worst earthquake and briefly grounded relief flights, while a fresh consignment of aid arrived from archrival India with much-needed medicine and tents.

RESCUE workers yesterday abandoned the search for any survivors trapped in the rubble of last week’s earthquake, and a top UN official warned that reconstruction of the devastated region will cost billions of dollars and take up to a decade.