When the global media descended on Pakistan in the wake of the killer quake on 8 October, what the world saw was a relief effort that was perhaps memorable only for its chaos.
What went unnoticed was the tireless effort made by a handful of nameless and faceless people that eventually set the ground rules for what is shaping up into one of the largest relief and rescue operations since the Asian tsunami.
These men are the helicopter pilots of Pakistan's armed forces - perhaps the only people who have delivered more than was expected of them.
While those in cities and towns - helped mostly by road transport - have perhaps not even noticed their presence beyond the deafening hum of the rotors on their flying machines, villagers call them angels.
"If it hadn't been for these helicopters, about 600 people in my village who survived would surely have died," says Abdul Ghafoor, a resident of Chikothi.
Chikothi is a border town 62 kilometres northeast of Muzaffarabad. The road is so badly damaged that its restoration would perhaps take several months.
Locals say the choppers were there on the second day after the quake.
One of the Pakistan army's most senior helicopter pilots says he saw a "sea change" in the pilots under his command after their first trip to Muzaffarabad.
"Aviators are pampered brats because of the nature of their job," says this officer.
"You try and stretch them beyond regular hours and they throw the rule book at you."
Yet each one of the 20-odd chopper pilots employed by the Pakistan army has been doing 12 to 16 hour days since the quake struck.
For the first two days, they were even flying during the night - a practice strictly forbidden under normal circumstances.
Pilots recall those critical 48 hours as a period of "blind flights."
But while that pressure eased with the commissioning of more choppers, the pressure to evacuate the injured has only mounted with time.
Pakistan army spokesman Shaukat Sultan says the army's fleet of 10 Russian-built MI-17s - along with a few smaller ones - has rescued 6,000 people so far.
The commanders of these pilots say they will not stop their aid efforts, and when ordered to do so they fight and resist to the point of insubordination.
"There were hundreds of people standing amid the rubble, waving to me, motioning me to come down," says one MI-17 pilot describing his first view of Muzaffarabad - only about four hours after the quake.
"But at that stage, we had only been sent out to assess the situation, not to intervene.
"Now we can and I am not stopping till I drop."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4346778.stm