Thousands of injured people languished without shelter and medical care in villages across the earthquake-stricken region of Kashmir today, as authorities warned that exposure and infections could drive the death toll up from 54,000 as the harsh Himalayan winter loomed.

A halt in heavy rains today allowed helicopter relief flights to resume across Pakistan’s quake zone, but fresh landslides hampered efforts to move supplies by road and officials estimated the death toll could now be more than 54,000.