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., arrived in a U.S. military helicopter amid the ruins of Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir.

Provided with a heavy U.S. and Pakistani security escort, the visitors' first stop was a girls' school destroyed by the Oct. 8 quake, where USAID has given two large tents for teachers to restart classes for dozens of pupils.

"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 seven-year-old girls as she sat crossed-legged with them.

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 weather was warm and sunny, but temperatures are falling and snow covered some Kashmiri peaks, raising fears many people could die from cold and illness during the winter.

The U.S. party also visited a tent village run by a private Pakistani company, where several thousand people were sheltered in close to 500 tents. The visitors handed out tarpaulins to help protect people from the coming winter rains and also saw people using water purification sachets provided.

"It is clear that there are a lot of people in this area who need help and we are pleased to be part of the effort ... to make the medicines available," Pfizer's McKinnell said.

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