Muzaffarabad, Pakistan ? Pakistan on Tuesday proposed allowing Kashmiris to cross the frontier dividing the territory with India to help earthquake victims – the latest sign of cooperation between the nuclear rivals since this month’s disaster.

Pakistani and U.S. military helicopters were delivering aid to hard-hit Muzaffarabad, which has become a relief distribution hub for survivors of the Oct. 8 temblor. But the U.N. World Food Program warned that 500,000 earthquake survivors have yet to receive supplies.

“People don’t just need food – first of all they need shelter, blankets and medical assistance – then food and clean water,” said James Morris, executive director of the WFP.

Relief workers visited one village where an 8-year-old girl died Tuesday of abdominal injuries they said could easily have been treated a helicopter ride away.

At least 54,000 people died in the Oct. 8 disaster, most in the Pakistani-held part of Kashmir. India reported 1,361 deaths on its side. The United Nations has estimated 3.3 million were left without homes.

Pakistani Kashmiris jostle for a bag of flour donated by the U.S. government Tuesday in Pakistan. The U.N. World Food Program on Tuesday warned that half a million earthquake survivors have yet to receive relief supplies, and Pakistan's president said during a visit to a quake-stricken town that he had appealed to the international community for more tents to shelter the homeless.

“The situation is really disastrous,” said Turkish relief worker Tayyar Wardar, a member of an emergency medical team that flew to Sarli Sachan, the area where the girl died.

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf suggested letting Kashmiris cross the so-called Line of Control in Kashmir, a move that would encourage cooperation between the two neighbors in the disputed region. Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and India, and both nations claim it in its entirety.

“We will allow every Kashmiri to come across the Line of Control to assist in the reconstruction effort,” Musharraf said in Muzaffarabad.

India, which has sent relief supplies, hailed Musharraf’s proposal but said it was awaiting more details before accepting it.

A 5.3-magnitude quake struck the region early today, one of hundreds of aftershocks since the main quake. No immediate damage was reported.