Kashmiri children line up for relief supplies. (Reuters)

LONDON, October 9, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Anxious British relatives headed to earthquake-stricken south Asia on Sunday, October 9, in hope of finding their family members alive after a major earthquake devastated  the Indian Subcontinent, while charities in the country appealed for more cash to help recovery and aid.

For much of Britain's population of 1.6 million Muslims, it is a testing time as they await news from friends and family in the areas struck by the deadly disaster, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Sunday, October 9.

The devastating earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale struck South Asia on Saturday, October 8, leaving about 19,000 people dead in Pakistan and more than 42,000 injured.

Pakistani-controlled Kashmir was worst hit, with entire towns wiped off the map and victims buried in mud.

Fasil Ali, 27, a civil engineer from London , was flying from London 's Hearthrow Airport to seek his family to Muzaffarabad, capital city of Azad-Kashmir in Pakistan , an area where around 40 of his relatives live.

"The (family members) in Islamabad we have heard from but we have not heard from those in Azad-Kashmir," he told AFP.

"The whole area is ruined. The big problem is no communications."

Ali's uncle, Ajaz Hussein, a supermarket worker from Luton, northwest of London , added: "We are hoping for the best.

"I think a large proportion of people in the Muslim community in Luton are from Kashmir . So there are many people like us worrying about their loved ones."

Out of Britain 's Muslims, "around half are thought to be of Pakistani descent, and of those, about 50-60 percent are from descendents of Kashmiris," according to Inayat Bunglawala, the spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).

Pakistan International Airlines said its two Saturday flights were in demand, with a 40-percent rise in economy passengers and a 15-percent increase in business class fares, as family members flew into the region.

Donations

Charities based in Britain have pledged to donate hundreds of thousands of pounds in emergency assistance.

"We are receiving calls and donations already and we are also receiving calls from the worried community members up and down the country," Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, of London-based Muslim Aid, told AFP.

"They are trying to find out whether we know anything more than they already know because communication is extremely difficult."

MCB Secretary General Iqbal Sacranie added: "We are sure that British Muslims will be generous in sending aid to the affected regions, especially in this holy month of Ramadan."

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Saturday that the government was sending an initial allocation of 100,000 sterling pounds ($176,000) to Pakistani authorities, together with 60 medics, emergency workers and foreign office staff.

Search and rescue teams from four firefighting forces across Britain were also headed to the region and Defence Secretary John Reid said troops in Afghanistan were "ready to assist if required".

Spurring Peace

An aerial view shows the earthquake worst hit town of Balakot . (Reuters)

Separately, some experts said that the shared tragedy confronting India and Pakistan in disputed Kashmir could pay dividends for the fragile peace process.

"It will certainly help in furthering the peace process," former Indian foreign minister and ambassador to Washington Lalit Mansingh told AFP.

Joint relief efforts could boost confidence, Mansingh said, noting that Indian and Pakistani civilians as well as the troops that face off across the Kashmiri border had lost their lives in the massive quake.

"This is a common tragedy. There is nothing political about this. It can help bring people together," Mansingh added.

The nuclear-armed rivals are engaged in a peace process that has seen two major rounds of talks since January 2004 focused on divided Kashmir -- the trigger for two of their three wars since 1947.

Both countries claim the scenic Himalayan region in full.

The disaster comes after the two nuclear neighbors, who came to the brink of war twice in 2002, have re-established trade and sporting ties and opened a new bus link between the Indian and Pakistani-held zones of Kashmir.

The disaster offered a "chance for India , Pakistan to rebuild together," said foreign affairs analyst C. Raja Mohan.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf spoke by telephone late Saturday to discuss the tragedy as signs emerged that cooperation was already breaking new ground.

Senior military officials of both sides have discussed joint relief and rescue measures along one of the most heavily guarded frontiers in the world.     

They used a hotline, generally reserved to defuse tensions on the Line of Control (LoC), or de facto border dividing Kashmir .

Some 36 Indian troops perished when their bunkers collapsed on them. On the Pakistani side, more than 200 soldiers reportedly died.