Pakistan ? Desperate villagers clawed through piles of mud and timber looking for victims of an earthquake that collapsed thousands of homes in southwestern Pakistan before dawn Wednesday, killing at least 170 people.

As rescue workers resumed their search this morning, officials said hopes of finding more survivors in the debris left by the 6.4-magnitude quake had dimmed.

Army planes flew in tents, medical supplies and blankets to the quake zone in the province, erecting between 8,000 and 10,000 tents for some 15,000 homeless people in the impoverished region. Temperatures fell to around freezing overnight – a grim test for those forced to sleep in the open.

Pakistan is no stranger to natural disasters, but the quake comes at an especially precarious time for the Muslim country, with the civilian government battling al-Qaida and Taliban attacks while grappling with a punishing economic crisis.