Shaheen Akhtar, 25, battled to fight back tears when she learned that two further members of her family had died.

The young mother-of-one has lost more than 30 relatives to the earthquake and expects that number to grow.

"Every phone call brings more news about relatives who have died," said Miss Akhtar who is staying at home to comfort her mother Khalida Naheed who is overcome by grief.

"My mum has not stopped crying since she heard about the disaster," said Miss Akhtar.

"She is mourning more than 30 members of her immediate family at one time."

Mrs Naheed, of Harewood Street, off Barkerend Road, sat rocking and shaking her head in disbelief as her daughter talked.

"Communications in the area are very bad at the moment so it's very difficult for us to get in touch with surviving members of our family," said Miss Akhtar who works as a health care assistant at Park Grange Medical Centre.

"My mum is trying to telephone all the time."

Most of Mrs Naheed's family live in Rawalpindi. Her late husband's family lives in Muzaffarabad.

Miss Akhtar, a mother-of-one, of Thornbury, said many of the family members that had died in the disaster were young children.

"A lot of them were at school when it happened and the school buildings collapsed on top of them," she said.

"It is devastating to learn about the loss of such young lives."

The family received a brief respite from their grief when they learned that Miss Akhtar's aunt had been found alive after three days.

"We thought she must be dead too but she had been taken in by another family," she said. "Everybody over there is helping each other.

"I think we must all do everything we can to help the survivors," she said.

"There are going to be a lot of problems as a result of this disaster and people desperately need us to help them."

Miss Akhtar's uncle runs a hospital in Mansehra, Pakistan.

The hospital normally cares for children with cancer but since the disaster has been treating injured survivors.

"They have no supplies and they are being inundated by injured people," she said.

"I want to try to raise money to send them supplies."

Shabir Hussain, 27, of Manningham, said 20 members of his family including his brother and his niece were killed in the earthquake.

His brother-in-law Moham-med Farid flew to Pakistan on Sunday to help survivors.

"I spoke to him today and he said he has arrived safely," said Mr Hussain.

"But he said the country is in a dreadful mess and there are dead bodies everywhere."

Mr Hussain said his brother-in-law said very little aid was reaching the smaller villages.

"Some of the roads have been destroyed so it is difficult to reach them," he said.

Jennifer Sugden