Quake aid: UN chief appeals to world leaders
United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan has sent letters to every world leader appealing for urgent contributions to help Pakistan’s earthquake victims.
He repeated his warning of a dramatic increase in deaths if help did not arrive quickly, saying the next few weeks were critical.
Annan urged the world’s nations and people to demonstrate “the same sense of global solidarity and commitment that we saw in the wake of the tsunami” last December that swept across the Indian Ocean from Indonesia to Africa.
“The relief operation is one of the most challenging ever due to the terrain, the large area affected, and the rapidly approaching winter weather,” Annan said.
He said more than 42,000 had died and the death toll was rising, with 67,000 people injured and in dire need of medical help.
Local and provincial leaders said this week that the mammoth quake across a section of the Himalayan range on October 8 killed an estimated 79,000 people.
“For most, air evacuation is their only hope of medical assistance, as thousands are trapped in towns and villages cut off by a severely damaged road network,” Annan said. “As winter approaches, it is a race against time to provide shelter to the over three million homeless who are still, for the most part, sleeping in the open and risking exposure.
“I fear the death toll in Pakistan will rise dramatically if we fail to assist the people immediately.”
The United Nations has appealed for £173 million for immediate quake relief, including shelter, food, health care, water and sanitation. So far, it has received £23 million in contributions and another £23 million in pledges, which represents about 27% of the amount needed. That compares with 80% pledged within 10 days of a similar appeal to international donors after the tsunami.
The United Nations also needs helicopters, winter tents and other temporary shelters.
To galvanise additional support, Annan said the United Nations was calling an urgent ministerial-level meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on October 26 “to review our collective response”.
Meanwhile, Nato allies agreed to dispatch hundreds of military engineers, medics and other troops to reinforce the earthquake relief effort.
The alliance also said it was stepping up its airlift of aid to Pakistan from Europe, but continued to struggle to find helicopters desperately needed to rush aid into the high mountains of Kashmir and northern Pakistan.
“Pakistan needs more help and today Nato agreed to do more,” Nato secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said yesterday.
“It is unprecedented. Nato is not a humanitarian relief organisation, but the situation is so serious.”
Up to 1,000 troops will go, led by engineers from Spain, Italy and Poland who will seek to clear roads blocked by the quake and subsequent mudslides so aid can reach stricken areas overland.
In addition, Nato will set up a field hospital, a mobile headquarters to help co-ordinate operations with the United Nations, and send three Lithuanian water purification units.
