More Asia snow avalanches feared
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 Avalanches and record cold cause food shortages and deaths in Indian Kashmir, Afghanistan and earthquake-hit Iran.
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(CNN) -- Experts fear melting snow could trigger further deadly avalanches as bitter-cold temperatures in India and Pakistan warm up.
And neighboring Afghanistan is bracing for more unrelenting rain and snow on Friday and Saturday, as it reels from the coldest winter in years.
The vicious cold snap is being blamed for about 850 deaths across the three countries, unleashing avalanches, floods and freezing temperatures.
Heavy snows have buried entire villages, while others are cut off from significant aid.
The U.S. army used C-130 aircraft to drop much-needed food and fuel to Afghanistan's hard-hit western province of Ghor on Thursday, where people are sick and starving.
"This is immediate aid, to stave off a big disaster", Sergeant Jeremy Clawson, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Herat, told the Reuters news agency.
"There've been a lot (of) deaths, and children are sick. There are hungry people; it's a crisis," he was quoted as saying.
Some 80 people have been killed in just one district alone, U.S. military officials said.
Hundreds of children are also feared dead because of infections and illnesses brought on by the cold, international aid workers said.
Catholic Relief Services said a team of six doctors who had surveyed villages along a 60-kilometer (40 mile) stretch of highway in Ghor were told of 200 child deaths, Reuters reports.
Most fatalities in the area in the district of Sharak appeared to have been caused by pneumonia and most were of children under the age of five, Paul Hicks, director of CRS for western Afghanistan, told the news agency.
"These are still unconfirmed numbers, based on reports the teams are getting from talking to families and community leaders," Reuters quoted him saying.
And there does not appear to be any relief in sight.
"There is more rain and snow pushing across southern Iran and up into north Afghanistan, so we could well see more snow there taking us into the weekend," said CNN weather forecaster Jenny Harrison.
Meanwhile, rescue efforts in avalanche-hit Indian Kashmir were intensified Thursday as the death toll climbed to 256, with another 47 reported missing, according to the Press Trust of India.
In north Kashmir, where basic provisions and water are in short supply, Indian army helicopters have air-dropped parcels to reach people stranded after roads and bridges were engulfed or washed away by melting snow.
The outlook for the coming days in India and Pakistan is for clearer weather and higher temperatures, which is a double-edged sword.
"The threat of avalanches is up because the sun will be coming back out and it will get warmer," said CNN weather forecaster Martyn Jeanes.
Earlier this month, at least 424 deaths were blamed on heavy rains and snow which soaked Pakistan, causing dam breaks, flooding and avalanches, according to officials.
Reuters contributed to this report.
