By Alexis Akwagyiram BBC News

Rapid UK saved a two-year-old from the rubble of an apartment block

UK aid and rescue agencies are continuing their efforts to help victims of the South Asia earthquake.

BBC News considers the progress being made by teams working in Pakistan and Kashmir.

Rescuing people in dangerous situations was an everyday occurrence for Willie McMartin during his time as a firefighter in Falkirk, Scotland.

But nothing could prepare him for the experience of rescuing a teenage boy from rubble left in the wake of the South Asia earthquake.

Around 33,000 people are thought to have died and millions have been left homeless by the 7.6-magnitude quake which flattened parts of the Kashmir region of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan on Saturday.

Mr McMartin, 53 and recently retired, is working with the International Rescue Corps in Muzaffarabad, Kashmir, where it is estimated that around half of the buildings have been destroyed.

He has been part of a rescue team searching the debris of schools, hospitals and hotels in a bid to find survivors.

My first reaction was to jump with joy but at the moment you're trying to subdue that sort of emotion - there's so many people that have lost relatives Willie McMartin Rescue worker

Describing the moment when the boy, who was aged between 12 and 14, was found, the rescue worker said: "I stuck a torch in the hole and pushed my head through to see out of the darkness.

"A hand stretched for the torch. As soon as we located this boy it wasn't easy to cut through because a concrete slab was right on top of him."

He was left with conflicting emotions after the youngster was pulled to safety after a hole was cut in the concrete.

"My first reaction was to jump with joy but at the moment you're trying to subdue that sort of emotion. There's so many people that have lost relatives," said Mr McMartin.

But he admits that the pace of rescues is likely to slow down.

"I'd like to say we're really hopeful of finding more people alive but, as time goes on then, as a group, we're realists and we know that time is dying."

Mr McMartin is just one of a number of rescue workers from British teams which include Rapid, UK Fire Service, and specialist dog teams Bird and Canis.

Success

Collectively the teams have so far made nine live rescues - five in Islamabad four in Muzaffarabad - said the Department for International Development on Tuesday.

A mother and her two-year-old son were freed overnight from a collapsed apartment block in Islamabad, in Pakistan, by a Rapid UK rescue team.

Rapid UK team leader John Holland, who took part in the operation, said the pair were recovering after being taken to hospital.

Recounting the operation, he said: "It took us six hours to actually get into the void and we found the little boy first and we encouraged him to crawl towards us.

"He was untrapped fortunately and I encouraged him to crawl towards me in an 18-inch void and I managed to crawl back with him in my arms and we passed him outside."

And a British International Search and Rescue Dogs (BIRD) team found a 20-year-old tailor, dragging him from the rubble of a two-storey building in Muzaffarabad.

Around 75 search and rescue staff, as well as five dogs, have been sent from the UK.

Charter flight

Meanwhile, Oxfam, Islamic Relief, Christian Aid, Unicef's UK office and the British Red Cross have pledged large sums towards the relief effort.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said he expected the final total for British aid to the region would be "very large".

With winter just six weeks away, the United Nations estimates that around 2.5 million people near the Pakistan-India border need shelter.

And the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that extensive damage to water and sewage systems have heightened the risk of water-borne diseases.

Oxfam has unveiled a �4m aid package and stressed the importance of providing clean water and sanitation.

Meanwhile, the Department for International Development (DFID) has said 10,000 tarpaulins, 1,000 "winterised" family tents and 700 blankets will be handed over to Islamic Relief for distribution in Muzaffarabad.

And on Tuesday afternoon a charter flight funded by DFID will leave East Midlands airport for Islamabad carrying 19,000 blankets and 800 winter tents.