Popcornbird, some friends of mine left the North of Pakistan about 1 week before the earthquake. They are very experienced travel authors and had been in the country for at last 4 weeks and said the hospitability and friendlyness of the people was more than amazing.
They are now hoping that many of the new friends they made survived.
It is so terrible what happens over there- with the hard winter being close. After what my friends told me your story just fits into the picture.