President Pervez Musharraf called on the country on Wednesday night to unite in the face of tragedy and appealed to the estimated 3.3 million people affected by the quake to be patient, saying relief efforts were gathering pace.
A five-person medical team wandering around Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir and the city worst hit by Saturday's 7.6 magnitude quake, said they had come from an unaffected part of the northern Pakistan territory to offer their services.
"We want to help but we don't know where to start. Where is the organisation? Where should we go?" said Rehmat Ullah Wazir, a medical officer in his hospital's department of surgery.
Businessman Achmed Rafiqi returned to Muzaffarabad from the commercial capital of Karachi on Wednesday night to find a pile of rubble where his home and electronics business had been.
"I fear that my whole family is under there," he said. "But how can I find them? How can I bury them? There is no one to help me, not even God."
The official death toll in northern Pakistan stood unchanged at 23,000 on Thursday, but that was expected to rise as relief workers slowly reach remote villages deep in mountainous valleys in the foothills of the Himalayas. Another 1,200 people are confirmed dead across the border in Indian Kashmir.
Some local officials and politicians in Pakistan say deaths could exceed 40,000 and local authorities and aid groups were very concerned about the areas not yet visited.
Children's aid group Plan International said it was going into isolated villages in Siran valley in the North West Frontier Province and hearing of widespread devastation and thousands of dead. Their contact with the organisation was the first with outsiders since the earthquake, Plan said.
There were stories of adversity bringing people together - Sikh Radesh Singh joined forces with Hindu, Christian and Muslim friends to bring relief supplies from Peshawar to Mansehra.
But decades of hostility and mistrust appeared to be foiling opportunities for cooperation between India and Pakistan over the Line of Control, the border that separates Kashmir.
An Indian army spokesman said on Thursday small groups of Indian soldiers had crossed the frontline at Pakistan's invitation to help repair a bunker they would once have shot at or shelled. But the Pakistanis immediately denied the report.
Nevertheless in his address to the nation on Wednesday night, Musharraf singled out Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when thanking the international community for aiding Pakistan.
Officials were also deeply concerned about the weather. The higher parts of the disaster zone have received their first snowfall and there is a race on to get people under shelter before winter bites, with night-time temperatures already falling to as low as 6-7 degrees Celsius (43-46 degrees Fahrenheit).
In Muzaffarabad, trucks were heard rumbling all night. At dawn, however, no coordination distribution system was visible and gangs of desperate residents continued to chase every truck or bus that looked like it might be carrying aid supplies.
Thousands of people carrying boxes and bags continued to stream on foot towards the mountains, trying to reach loved ones they left behind in villages to find work in the big cities.
"I'm going home. I just met a person from my village in Muzaffarabad who told me three members of my family are dead - my wife, my sister and a child. But I will not believe them unless I see their bodies," said Ikram, walking with a bag on his shoulder. He said his village was 29 km away.
"Given the size and the magnitude of the quake and the areas (affected), things are going reasonably well. My people there are not complaining about the coordination," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told reporters in Portugal.
Four bodies were recovered from the rubble of two blocks in Islamabad's Margala Towers, the only significant damage sustained in the Pakistani capital.
The discoveries of the bodies of an Italian consular officer, two Pakistanis and another body that had yet to be identified brought the total dead in the apartment block collapse to 42 and up to 40 people still unaccounted for.
An automatic $20 donation can be made to the Red Cross earthquake appeal by phoning 0900 33 200. Other appeals include Save the Children, 0800 167 168; Oxfam 0800 400 666 and Unicef 0800 800 194; World Vision 0800 80 2000.
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