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Nato airplanes have transported some 450 tons of UNHCR aid to quake-stricken Pakistan from a military base in southern Turkey, the UN refugee agency said here Friday.

The airbridge between the Incirlik base in southern Turkey and Islamabad has been an "exemplary operation" to help the earthquake victims, the UNHCR representative in Turkey, Gesche Karrenbrock, told reporters.

"It is now in its 10th day. Of the about 860 tons of supplies that we had to ferry... about 450 tons have left so far," she said.

"Speed is of the essence in a situation like this... as we heard today from our colleagues in Pakistan and the Pakistani authorities who said cold weather is coming in and if we don't get shelter materials and non-food items and other urgent supplies into the mountains now we may lose the battle," she said.

Karrenbrock explained the UNHCR was considering to ship a second tranche of supplies to Pakistan via the same airbridge.

"We very much hope that we'll have continuation of this co-operation in the same way both with Nato and the government of Turkey," she said.

About 30 airplanes from Nato members Britain, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Turkey and the United States were taking part in the operation, UN officials said.

The underfunded relief operation is facing a race against time to provide care and shelter for thousands in the quake-stricken region of Kashmir, before winter moves in within three weeks.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005


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