Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations will today announce a flash appeal for aid for north Pakistan, where survivors of the area's biggest earthquake in a century spent a third night outside without food and blankets.

Pakistan's government told the UN the earthquake killed at least 30,000 people and the death toll may be as high as 40,000, Edward Tsui, an official with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said in New York yesterday. In India, the toll rose to 865 people dead in Jammu and Kashmir state, the government said.

The geography of north Pakistan, the world's most mountainous region, is making it hard to ferry supplies and equipment because narrow roads have been destroyed in landslides and helicopters can't fly when clouds develop. The area was hit by floods and heavy snowfall last winter and floods and avalanches in January, the UN said on its Web site.

``Every hour counts, and I urge the world to respond and respond generously and willingly,'' Secretary-General Kofi Annan told a news conference in Geneva yesterday as the UN prepared to launch the flash appeal today.

Five UN agencies have mobilized to deliver food for 240,000 people and tents, kitchen sets and soap for 100,000. A consolidated appeal for aid during the next six months will be announced tomorrow, according to Tsui, who said UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland was heading to the region.

Sending Tents

Japan, a country that regularly experiences earthquakes, will send troops and transport helicopters to Pakistan to help after a request from Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, Kyodo News reported today, citing Defense Agency chief Yoshinori Ono. At least three helicopters may be sent.

India, which has fought three wars with Pakistan over Kashmir, where the earthquake struck, will send tents, plastic sheets, blankets, mattresses, food and a variety of medicines and medical supplies, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said in New Delhi yesterday.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ``has directed that a consignment of these items should be put together on an urgent basis and delivered to Pakistan at the earliest,'' Saran said. ``The concerned agencies are already at work in organizing an airlift of these items by tomorrow evening, subject to clearance being obtained.''

Help also began arriving in the area from other countries. The U.S. sent military aircraft loaded with supplies including tents, and pledged an initial $50 million.

Sending Aid

At least eight U.S. Army helicopters were deployed from Afghanistan. Rescue teams from Russia, Japan, Turkey and the U.K. joined the search for survivors in the rubble of Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, the New York Times reported from the city.

China sent a team of rescue workers with sniffer dogs, Cable News Network reported today.

About 70 percent of the buildings in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, were damaged or had collapsed, police said. The city was closest to the epicenter of the magnitude-7.6 temblor.

``The rescue work is very slow,'' Aziz Ahmed, 55, who lives about four miles (six kilometers) outside Muzaffarabad, said by mobile phone yesterday. ``When we look around, all we see is collapsed rooftops, people still buried under debris and probably dead bodies.''

As many as 5 million people are homeless, CNN said. Many people still haven't received food, water or shelter, British Broadcasting Corp. said.

The Himalayan territory of Kashmir is at the center of the dispute between India and Pakistan, having been the cause of two of the three wars fought between them since independence in 1947. The two countries have been seeking to ease tensions since 2003 after coming close to a fourth war in the previous year.

Leaders Talk

Singh had previously spoken with Pakistan's Musharraf, offering assistance. Singh conveyed his ``profound sympathies'' to Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Aziz Ahmed Khan, when he called on the prime minister this evening, Saran said.

``The people of India have been deeply moved by the images of destruction and human suffering that they have been witnessing on television in the past couple of days,'' Saran cited the prime minister as saying. ``We would like to help in whatever way we can to alleviate the sense of loss and suffering of the Pakistani people.''

India and Pakistan have restored diplomatic, sporting and transport links since they began improving ties in April 2003. They are also engaged in a series of talks aimed at resolving all outstanding disputes, including control of Kashmir.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters on her plane en route to Central Asia yesterday that she is considering a visit to the quake-hit area to demonstrate solidarity with the Pakistani people. Rice said she doesn't want ``to do anything that will get in the way'' of rescue efforts.

The oil-exporting United Arab Emirates offered $100 million in aid to Pakistan, and the country's Red Crescent Society sent teams to Pakistan and India, the official Emirates News Agency said on its Web site yesterday. Canadian military forces prepared to fly in 21 tons of blankets as part of a $17 million aid pledge, the government said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Bibhudatta Pradhan in Delhi at bpradhan@bloomberg.net; Khalid Qayum in Islamabad, Pakistan at

kqayum@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 10, 2005 21:54 EDT