Wednesday, October 19 2005 14:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Muzaffarabad: A strong aftershock of 5.8 intensity shook Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) today (Oct 19, 2005), sparking landslides and rattling the nerves of people who survived this month's earthquake that killed more than 54,000.

Despite near-continuous daytime sorties of helicopters delivering supplies to earthquake victims in recent days, an estimated half-million survivors in POK have yet to receive any aid since the monster 7.6-magnitude quake struck the region Oct. 8, leveling entire villages.

Today's 5.8-magnitude aftershock struck 129 kilometers north of Islamabad, near the epicenter of the main quake, according to the U.S. National Earthquake Center in Colorado. It was followed by another in the same area about 45 minutes later that registered 5.6.

The first aftershock caused a landslide in Balakot, one of the cities hardest hit by the initial quake. Debris covered the road to nearby Mansehra, but it was quickly cleared, said Pakistani Army Lt. Col. Saeed Iqbal, who is in charge of the relief efforts in the area.

Iqbal said the aftershock was 'very heavy'' and that he saw dust rising in mountains north of Balakot in the Kaghan Valley that he said might indicate an additional landslide. He said he had no immediate reports from his 60 teams of soldiers that were carrying in relief goods in the vicinity.

"I am concerned,'' he said.

Hundreds of aftershocks have struck the region since the Oct. 8 quake.

"They're not over,'' said Waverly Person, a seismologist at the U.S. quake center.

"For a shallow-depth earthquake like this they go on, sometimes for a year, '' he said.