HIGH in the Kashmir mountains, a small band of people makes their way up a treacherous path to a remote village.
Shivering in sub-zero temperatures, they have led their team of mules across miles of devastated terrain en route to the isolated settlement in the Neelam Valley, where more than 3000 people are braving the elements in a bitter battle for survival.
The band of volunteers, which included East Lothian MSP John Home Robertson, was on a mercy mission from Edinburgh, delivering a precious cargo of tents and stoves.
In the weeks and months to come, the vital supplies will be a lifeline for villagers whose families and livelihoods were destroyed by one of the most devastating earthquakes of recent times.
And theirs was a race against time to reach almost inaccessible villages, before the Himalayan winter set in. For that could leave hundreds of thousands of farmers and their families in danger of freezing to death.
Since the huge earthquake - it measured 7.6 on the Richter scale - tore through Pakistan and Kashmir in October, the Capital's humanitarian aid charity, Edinburgh Direct Aid, has been trying to get assistance to some of the most isolated survivors of the disaster.
With two of its volunteers working tirelessly alongside organisations such as the World Wildlife Fund over the past month, they have been providing shelter and wood-burning stoves for many of the villages which were completely destroyed.
Millions in Kashmir were left homeless after the quake, and are now facing a bitter struggle to find temporary accommodation. And with a death toll across the country that has already reached 80,000 and is still rising every day, the charity admits that it is one of the most badly affected areas they have ever had to deal with - even worse than those devastated by the tsunami that swept across parts of Asia last Boxing Day.
For East Lothian MSP John Home Robertson, a veteran volunteer with EDA, the trip to Kashmir was a humbling one. He spent a fortnight in the area last month, working long hours to bring much-needed supplies to remote villages so that the victims of the earthquake could build temporary shelters to protect themselves from the elements.
And although the 57-year-old has seen many scenes of destruction during previous aid missions to Bosnia and Kosovo - where he witnessed the aftereffects of the Serbian's notorious "ethnic cleansing" policy on the Muslim communities - he says that the situation in Kashmir involved some of the worst devastation he has ever seen.
"I've been out to some fairly ruined places in the past and seen some truly harrowing things there," he admits. "But with those areas, the damage has always been very localised. In Kashmir it was totally different and quite extraordinary because it's on a much larger scale.
"Everything has just been completely flattened for miles around and so many people are dead or injured. It's very difficult to try and explain that level of destruction.
"We were working in a valley that has a population of about 30,000 but it is such a vast area that it's difficult to get help to the people who really need it. All the roads and bridges have been swept away by landslides, so you have to either trek through the mountains on mules or take a helicopter to get to these isolated villages that have been destroyed by the earthquake."
With freezing nights and sub-zero temperatures already gripping the region when they arrived, Home Robertson says that many of those victims had to cower in makeshift tents, standing little or no chance against the elements.
Unable to use wood stoves or open fires for fear of burning their precarious shelters to the ground, they have had to wait for the volunteers to bring clothes, bedding and materials to make durable, blizzard-proof tents that will last out the winter.
"There are plans in place to help rebuild the country but they won't be started up until next year," explains Home Robertson. "However, these people need help now, otherwise they will die.
"It's already perishing cold and many of them are sleeping in the open air without any blankets, warmth or shelter.
"We brought them sandbags and stoves and showed them how to build temporary tents that they could heat, but although the people are working very hard to survive there are many more who are still waiting for aid to arrive.
"A lot of these people don't want to leave their homes because they fear losing their cattle, livelihoods and even their land. As far as they're concerned, if they come down from the mountains into the big aid stations in the cities, they will lose everything.
"They just want to be able to last out the winter so they can rebuild their villages when it's over."
Home Robertson's fellow volunteer, Maggie Tookey, was out in the region for more than six weeks and says she is amazed at how the mountain farmers have managed to survive this long.
A veteran with EDA, she was one of the charity's volunteers that went out to distribute aid to tsunami-hit Sri Lanka last year, but she, too, admits that Kashmir is one of the most difficult places she has ever had to go.
"There are people there who are still living in crude wooden structures that let in the snow and rain and others who are basically sleeping rough in sub-zero temperatures. I have no idea how they've survived, to be honest," she says.
"We were only a few miles from where the epicentre of the quake happened and everything is just a complete wreck there. When I first arrived they were still getting bodies out of the rubble and the smell was pretty grim so I was really shocked at that level of destruction.
"Some of the villages we were trying to get to were almost totally inaccessible, but the people there were just over the moon with what we were doing. But then again, our work was just a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of what has happened across the country.
"There are people who have lost their families and homes and others who have been left maimed by their injuries, but they are just trying to hang on in there.
"And although there's a lot of aid coming in, they need people to help distribute it and take it into the mountains.
"At the moment it isn't getting there fast enough and the snow is creeping closer every day."
And as far as EDA is concerned, there is still a lot to be done to ensure that help reaches the people who need it most.
"It's a race against time now," explains Home Robertson. "And it's vital that the charities get more money to get aid to these people. The stoves EDA is providing cost just £10 each, which isn't a lot but they are saving so many lives.
"Although the earthquake happened in October, there are still so many people who are dying or are lying in the rubble and they aren't getting enough aid. It's absolutely heart-wrenching to see, so it's urgent that more donations come in before it's too late."
To donate money to the appeal, send cheques to Edinburgh Direct Aid (Earthquake), 29 Starbank Rd, Edinburgh or phone 0131-552 1545. You can also donate online at www.edinburghdirectaid.org
