The UN's top relief official warned yesterday that the shortfall in aid for victims of the earthquake in Pakistan made the situation worse than after the Indian Ocean tsunami last year.
"This is not enough. We have never had this kind of logistical nightmare ever. We thought the tsunami was the worst we could get. This is worse," Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief coordinator, told journalists.
Egeland said at least half a million people in Pakistani Kashmir were still out of reach in the mountainous region following the 7.6 magnitude earthquake nearly two weeks ago.
The international community needed to set up a "second Berlin airlift," he added, referring to a Western air shuttle that overcame a Soviet blockade of the German city in 1948-49.
An estimated 3 million people were without useable homes and in need of shelter in Pakistan, while about 67,000 people were seriously injured, according to the UN official.
The UN says there have been 48,000 confirmed deaths but the country's disaster relief chief said yesterday the tally of dead now stood at 49,739, and that of injured around 74,000.
"The earthquake in Kashmir afflicting three countries is becoming worse by the day as the extent of the emergency dawns upon us," Egeland said.
"The world is not responding as it should," he added, warning of a "cutoff" facing aid deliveries in December as winter and "massive" snowfalls take hold in the region.
"Tens of thousands of people's lives are at stake and they could die if we don't get to them in time," Egeland said.
The UN has received US$86 million in aid pledges in response to its appeal for US$272 million in aid from the international community. That appeal has since been raised to US$312 million for six months. Other bilateral offers of aid to Pakistan have been made by some countries.
Currently 60 helicopters are operating in the region, with 20 more due to arrive, the UN said.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for an "immediate and exceptional escalation" of the relief effort for Pakistan on Tuesday, warning of the threat of a "second, massive wave of death."
also see story:
RSS