EARTHQUAKE CONTINUES. AHMED RASHID (DAILY TELEGRAPH, FEB 11)

Thousands of survivors from last week's devestating earthquake in northern Afghanistan now may die as relief efforts remain blocked because of fresh snow fall and bad weather. More than 4000 people were killed in the earthquake and multiple aftershocks that destroyed 30 villages last Wednesday.

''As the weather worsens thousands of people stranded in villages may die due to exposure, lack of food, clean water and shelter,'' said Sarah Russell, a spokeswoman for the UN relief operations in Islamabad.

''There is a foot of fresh snow blanketing the only landing strip in the region and bad weather has stopped all relief flights for the past two days. The situation is fragile and desperate,'' Russell added. Yesterday (Wednesday) only one helicopter carrying 2 tons of bread and blankets from Tajikistan managed to reach Rostaq, the epi centre of the quake.

Aid agencies said that less than 50 tons of supplies have reached the victims so far - 8 days after the earthquake struck - compared to the thousands of tons that should have reached them by nor or were delivered within the first 24 hours to the victims of the Kobe earthquake in Japan in 1995.

On Wednesday morning fresh snowfall blanketed the mountains around Rostaq close to the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border. There were also several new aftershocks sending survivors in Rostaq scurrying out of buildings they had taken shelter in.

Thousands of people were trying to reach Rostaq from their destroyed villages, along muddy roads and snow drifts and their only mode of transportation are donkeys. Hundreds of injured and others too weak or old to travel, have been left in their villages without help or supplies.

Before the fresh snowfall, relief workers had managed to reach only 8 of the 30 destroyed villages. Now the roads are full of mud and snow and the way into the mountains is completely blocked.

More than 4000 survivors have reached Rostaq where 21 Afghan doctors under the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross, are working around the clock to deal with hundreds of injured who had managed to reach the town. They are housed in makeshift tents and devestated buildings.

''Thousands of people are facing risk of death by exposure. If they cannot eat to generate warmth and have no shelter, this will result in a major threat of many deaths,'' warned Sandra Chopin from the European Commission Humanitarian Office.

If on Thursday relief aircraft from Pakistan and Tajikistan do manage to reach the landing strip at Khawaja Ghor, 40 miles fom Rostaq, donkeys rather than vehicles will have to be used to move the supplies to the town. ''From Rostaq supplies will then have to be moved into the mountains - a task that now seems impossible for the next few days until the snow and mud is less,'' said Russell.

Survivors from the devestated village of Kezer, 12 miles east of Rostaq, said their entire village was destroyed in the quake. ''We buried 200 people in the village and sent another 100 to the hospital in Rostaq,'' Sher Mohammed, a villager told the Associated Press. ''We put 15 to 20 people in each grave because there were not enough people left to dig,'' he added.

Mohammed said the mountain above Kezer split in two during the quake, sending thousands of tons of rock crashing down onto sleeping villagers below. In Kezar feverish women and children huddled inside the shell of the village school with animal carcasses lying nearby. ''If they dont get help soon, people will die,'' said Mohammed.

For the past 20 years Afghanistan has been in the grip of a brutal war that has killed more than one million people. Now natural disasters are adding to the suffering of the population.