Pakistan: rains block roads in the north

However, no fresh casualties were reported Friday in the mountainous north where dozens of people have died in rains, storms and flash floods since July.

Photo: Pakistan: rains block roads in the north

Engineers were trying to clear roads through the Neelum and Jehlum Valleys - two main routes linking the regional capital Muzaffarabad with the rest of Kashmir - that had been blocked by landslides, said Zahoorul Hassan, the city police chief.

Killian Kleinschmidt, senior emergency coordinator for the U.N. refugee agency, said at least 8,000 people had been displaced in recent weeks and 6,000 of them had been shifted into camps. He said 50 families had been relocated from Bagh in Kashmir in the past 12 hours.

If the rains continue over the next four weeks, making soil heavier and increasing the risk of landslides, between 10,000 and 20,000 more people could be displaced, he said.

Hasan said efforts were focused on moving quake survivors to safer places. "We are receiving good help from the international aid agencies for it."

Meanwhile, the rain flooded roads in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, and the neighboring city of Rawalpindi. Authorities issued flood warnings to people living near river banks around the country, the AP reports.

Flash flooding and mudslides caused by rains killed at least 19 people in Pakistan's northwest on Thursday. On July 24, 12 people were buried by a mudslide in a refugee camp for quake survivors in Muzaffarabad. Relief officials say in all, at least 50 have died since the monsoon rains started last month.