Thursday, October 20 2005 15:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Muzaffarabad (PoK): Thirteen-year-old Zobia Latiff frantically waves at a passing military helicopter heading to drop off much-needed goods in the quake-ravaged mountains of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

But her screams are drowned by the huge rotors and the roaring majestic Jhelum River in the valley underneath that seem to mock her puny effort.

"All we want is food. Can't they see us?" Zobia quietly whispers as she slumps on a chipped boulder that tore off part of the highway to Muzaffarabad, hardest hit by the October 8 quake that left 47,700 dead and 3.3 million people homeless.

Beside her is brother Taslim, a gap-toothed six-year-old, who hasn't had a full meal since the temblor destroyed their home and injured both their parents on the slopes of the Zamin Abad village.

As dusk stole away the last of the light, Zobia is in desperate need of blankets to keep her warm as she begs on the highway along with scores of other children with similar heart-wrenching stories.

Armed with a small cardboard on which she scrawled the words 'help quake victim' with a charcoal, the teenager catches the attention of a passing private vehicle whose driver gives her a bag of assorted goodies.

She profusely thanks the driver and prods her brother to begin their kilometer trek up to their destroyed home where she says their father is waiting for aid.