Rescue work in quake-hit Pakistan is facing the difficulty of how to reach the affectees in outlying areas, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland said Friday.

"In the pipeline we have 10,000 tents and 100,000 blankets, but it takes time to get them into these areas, and more aid is still on the way," Egeland told the UN information service.

"The biggest problem at the moment is to reach people in outlying areas. It's heartbroken to see flattened small villages. This devastation is just a complete nightmare, 70 percent of this city has been completely destroyed," Egeland added.

The coordinator also issued an urgent appeal for more helicopters -- the only way to ferry aid to the many settlements cut off, saying many more were needed right now if thousands of lives are to be saved.

The devastating 7.6 magnitude earthquake that shook the northern part of Pakistan last Saturday has claimed more than 25, 000 lives in the country. It has also destroyed more than 80 percent of the structures and buildings there, and strong aftershocks are still threatening buildings already damaged by the initial earthquake.

Now five days on, relief workers are still battling to give assistance to needy people in thousands of isolated communities. " We are most concerned for the people stuck in small villages. It's a race against the clock," Egeland said.

Source: Xinhua