MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - U.S. goodwill envoy Karen Hughes and three of America's top business leaders flew to the heart of Pakistan's earthquake zone on Monday to see first hand the urgent need for more aid.

The delegation was sent by U.S. President George W. Bush to raise awareness of the scale of the suffering and acute need for shelter, food, sanitation and health care in the mountains of Pakistani Kashmir as winter closes in on the region.

The group, including the chief executive of the world's largest drug maker, Pfizer Inc., flew by U.S. military helicopter to Muzaffarabad, the ruined capital of Pakistani Kashmir.

Provided with a heavy U.S. and Pakistani security escort, their first stop was at the ruins of a girl's school where 84 children and eight teachers died in the October 8 quake.

"People in America care very much about the girls and boys and people of Pakistan and that's why you have probably seen some of the helicopters trying to bring help," Hughes, a former Sunday school teacher, told two 7-year-old girls as she sat cross-legged in a tent where classes had been restarted.

The under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs was appointed in July to polish the United States' image overseas, especially in Islamic nations like Pakistan.

Hughes was accompanied by Pfizer CEO Hank McKinnell, Anne Mulcahy, chairman of office-equipment firm Xerox Corp., and Jim Kelly, former chairman of United Parcel Service Inc., the world's largest package delivery company.

The U.S. party also visited a tent village sponsored by a private Pakistani company, where several thousand people were sheltered in close to 500 tents.

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