QUETTA - Severe earthquake of 6.4 magnitude which hit Balochistan on Wednesday has so far killed over 300 people and injured around 1,000 in several areas of Ziarat and Pishin. The affected people in Ziarat and Khanozai area of Pishin blocked roads and staged protest demonstrations against poor supply of relief goods. They alleged that the pace of relief operation in their area was very slow which had further aggravated the situation. The people of Zamar area in Ziarat alleged that after lapse of two days the govt was not providing proper relief to the affected people. They said that they had lost every thing in the earthquake but still their area was not being given due attention. They alleged that the govt is focusing only on a few areas while other affected areas were being neglected. District Nazim Ziarat Dilawar Khan Kakar talking to the newsmen said that  number of casualties might be around 400 persons. He said that thousands of people were struck by the tragedy as 47,000 people were rendered homeless and hundreds of houses were destroyed. Dilawar Kakar said that the aftershocks of the earthquake further increased the miseries of the people who spent nights in open grounds in the cold weather. The death toll in affected areas rose to around 300 on Friday, but the Home Secretary said that so far 155 deaths had been confirmed. Balochistan Provincial Minister Zamrak Khan said reports of fatalities were still arriving from different parts of affected districts. 'The bodies of 215 people killed have been buried so far', he said, adding, that the authorities are distributing thousands of tents, blankets, coats and food packages as nighttime temperature falls to freezing point. According to spokesman of Home Department, Zafar Iqbal the relief operation was underway while the earthquake had destroyed 10 villages in Kawas and Ahmedoon Union Councils of Ziarat from where a total of 155 casualties and 347 injured had been confirmed while a survey is underway to ascertain the exact number of victims. He said the provincial govt had also constituted a committee headed by DCO Ziarat and one representative of Pak Army and Balochistan Frontier Corps to assess the losses caused by earthquake in the district. The committee had been directed to furnish its detailed report within two days so that the rehabilitation process of the affected people could be started besides distributing compensation amount announced by the Prime Minister among heirs of deceased and injured of the catastrophe. 'Provincial govt has so far distributed 6000 blankets, 3793 tents, 1000 sleeping bags, 5600 jackets and tonnes of food items among the quake affectees', he added Home secretary Shaukat Ali Awan told reporters that relief goods including tents, blankets and other edibles items from different parts of the country were being distributed. A cheque of Rs 70 million which was announced by Sindh govt for earthquake affectees has been received. Some reports suggest that although in various parts of Ziarat, relief camps have been established ,however, they seem insufficient, as the people in far-flung areas are still looking for the relief to arrive. AFP adds: Hundreds of children left homeless in quake-hit Balochistan are suffering from potentially deadly diseases, a health official said Friday, as aid trickled in to the remote region. Relief goods began reaching devastated villages in mountainous Balochistan province, more than two days after the 6.4-magnitude quake struck, killing up to 300 people and leaving thousands more homeless. As foreign governments and humanitarian organisations pledged money and support for the relief effort, volunteers on the ground included militants, finding their strong faith a help in the deeply conservative area. But strong aftershocks kept thousands of people whose mud-brick houses were flattened sleeping in the open in sub-zero temperatures, exposing children and the elderly to sickness. "Due to the cold hundreds of children are being treated for pneumonia, abdominal diseases, diarrhoea and chest problems," the district health officer of the stricken hill town of Ziarat, Ayub Kakar, told AFP. Tents, blankets and clothes for people sleeping in the open in villages near Ziarat were still in short supply as winter sets in. Medicines and antibiotics were also lacking, he added. "We fear the death toll will rise. Such diseases, if not treated in time, are life-threatening," Kakar said. Most of the population in the impoverished region are children, he added, estimating that between 25,00 and 30,000 of them were affected, including psychologically. Children could be seen running after cars on the road adjoining the affected areas begging for food and drink, witnesses said. Meanwhile, militant groups, some of whom were among the first on the scene after the 2005 earthquake in northern Pakistan that killed 74,000 people, found favour in remote villages, distributing food, medicine and shelter. One of them, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, has been listed by the United States as a "terrorist organisation" because it is the political wing of the outlawed Kashmiri militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. A Jamaat-ud-Dawa volunteer, who gave his name as Abu Abdullah, insisted however that they were not playing politics at a time of suffering and vulnerability. "We believe in serving people," said the 40-year-old, a veteran of the mujahideen insurgency against the Soviet army in Afghanistan in the 1980s and the Kashmir conflict, told AFP. "We are not doing any politics here and we are making every effort to provide relief to the survivors." Labourer Nasrullah, 30, lives in a remote village near Wam, one of the worst-affected villages. His six-year-old daughter, Aasia, was badly injured in the quake but was now receiving treatment by Jamaat-ud-Dawa medics. "We were shy to expose our women to these people because there were no women doctors. But when they convinced us, we were inspired by their religious beliefs," said Nasrullah, who gave only one name. "They said they were serving humanity." Jamaat-ud-Dawa has set up five camps of 50 tents in Wam, one of the villages worst affected by the quake. They immediately recruited 100 volunteers, including 30 doctors and paramedics, to help survivors. One local volunteer, Mohammad Saleem, told AFP: "We have provided people with food, blankets and tents. The thing most people want is tents, which are scarce in the area. "We are trying to get more and more tents. We have food, medicines and our own medical teams, which are organised by our subsidiary relief agency, Al-Khidmat," he said. "People are very distressed. The relief activities are very limited. This area is very cold, so despite the provision of food, children are falling ill and it will take a lot of time to reach these children." Up to 15,000 people have been left homeless by the disaster, officials said, but local authorities said that the provincial and federal governments have failed to offer sufficient help. Military and paramilitary troops have provided more than 2,000 tents and 15 tonnes of food rations, Major General Mohammed Khan said, adding more would arrive in the coming days, but warned that reconstruction could take months.