Aid is finally arriving in the remote villages of Kashmir. Military helicopters are ferrying rice, sugar, water, tents and blankets to desperate survivors of the worst earthquake in a century, while the bereaved dig mass graves for the corpses still being pulled from the rubble. The region has been devastated by the disaster, which has also flattened villages across the fortified line of control in the Indian- administered part of the disputed territory. The shock waves have spread around the world: there is a large Kashmiri diaspora in Britain and North America, and many families have lost relatives and friends.

The response to the quake has, however, been encouraging. Governments, charities and individuals have shown a generosity strikingly evident after the tsunami. Public sympathy has not been fatigued by the unusual number of recent natural disasters. The United States has offered an immediate sum of $50 million in relief and has diverted military helicopters from Afghanistan to help the overstretched Pakistani Army. British charities, the lessons of the tsunami well learnt, have pooled their efforts and launched a combined appeal. They flew emergency workers, specialist teams and prepositioned relief supplies to the region within hours. Western help has been matched across the Muslim world; and even Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, themselves victims of the tsunami, have pledged assistance.

In the face of physical ruin and human misery, societies are often able to transcend prejudice and conflict. “Earthquake diplomacy” transformed the relationship between Greece and Turkey: after each had suffered widespread destruction and received generous help from its neighbour, the two countries were able to put behind them years of suspicion and contemplate a more neighbourly relationship. After the tsunami, militants in Aceh suspended their separatist rebellion as Indonesian troops distributed help to people they had recently been fighting; within a year the ceasefire had become a peace deal.

Can India and Pakistan use this disaster in Kashmir, the focal point of their 58-year-old conflict, to accelerate their rapprochement? Each was quick to offer the other side aid, though deep-rooted suspicion inhi- bited both governments from swift acceptance. Not surprisingly, Pakistan rejected India’s proposal to deploy its troops across the disaster area. But it has, after a delay, accepted planeloads of humanitarian supplies. More importantly, Kashmir’s biggest militant group has offered to suspend violence, as local politicians call for a restoration of telephone and transport links across the border. President Musharraf of Pakistan and Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister, are committed to détente and may find it easier to win acceptance for diplomatic initiatives in the aftermath of the disaster.

Generosity also dissolves suspicion. Washington’s adroit move in offering money and expertise is welcome at a time when Muslim suspicions of the US are widespread. The same is true in Britain. Muslims unhappy about Iraq can see that the Government, and ordinary people, are eager to do what they can to relieve suffering. Here is a cause not only to contrast with jihadist nihilism but to unite all Britons, Muslim and non-Muslim, in common humanity. Little of this will be of comfort to broken families amid the ruins of Muzaffarabad. But from this cataclysm of nature may spring hope.