The world's failure to come up with quick cash to help save hundreds of thousands of Pakistani earthquake survivors before winter sets in left relief officials on the ground baffled and upset yesterday.
"We are still of the view that the international community lacks full comprehension of the catastrophe that is looming large," said UN chief aid coordinator Rashid Khalikov.
"We are talking life," he said one day after a UN conference drew US$580 million in aid promises -- but only US$15.8 million in emergency relief, with the harsh Himalayan winter just weeks away and countless people still living in rubble.
"It may sound strange that we are still talking life-saving two weeks after the disaster, when search and rescue operations have largely finished," Khalikov said in the destroyed city of Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir.
"But communities that live in the affected areas have become so vulnerable that it is absolutely important for us to reach them with help," he said. "And we will stay in this life-saving mode, I'm afraid, for the next six months."
Relief workers fear that as many people will die of hunger and exposure during the bitter winter as in the Oct. 8 quake which killed at least 54,000 people in Pakistan and 1,300 in Indian Kashmir.
Winter will descend in four weeks. By then, around 3 million people will have to have been given shelter with food stockpiled to see them through to spring.
It is an operation experts say is more difficult than that which followed last year's Indian Ocean tsunami, a catastrophe which prompted a torrent of aid.
However, all but a small amount of the money pledged at the UN conference in Geneva on Wednesday was for reconstructing the flattened villages of Pakistani Kashmir and the North West Frontier Province.
"It's a little bit frustrating, to tell you the truth," World Food Program spokesman Khaled Mansour said.
"Compared with other crises of the same magnitude this is more complex in terms of logistics and the response of donors has defin-itely been disappointing," Mansour said.
Starting on reconstruction work is months away.
"It is, in my view, not right to sit with reconstruction money for one year from now if we're not sure whether those people will be alive one year from now," UN aid chief Jan Egeland said in Geneva.
However, China yesterday promised an additional US$13.8 million in unconditional aid that includes cash.
About 450,000 winter tents are needed, nearly 100,000 have been distributed and another 200,000 are in the pipeline, aid officials say.
That leaves them 150,000 short and not knowing where to find them.
Meanwhile, India disclosed yesterday that it had pledged US$25 million in relief assistance to its arch-rival Pakistan for earthquake victims.
"The government of India has offered assistance of US$25 million for relief and the rehabilitation of earthquake victims," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said in New Delhi.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, however, has spurned an offer by India to send its helicopters to fly relief sorties into the Pakistani part of disputed Kashmir, where the quake struck.
"The world should understand that we cannot allow Indian soldiers to operate in [Pakistani] Kashmir," Musharraf said in an interview published yesterday in the UK's in-fluential Financial Times business daily.
"Our whole defense system is there, our whole military is there," he said.
Iraq said yesterday it plans to send several hundred soldiers from its new army to help relief efforts in Pakistan.
"It is an engineering battalion, well-trained and equipped to relieve the Pakistanis who face a humanitarian disaster which caused the death of thousands of people," Lieutenant General Babkir Zibari told a news conference.
He said that the unit would depart as soon as Pakistan accepts the offer of help.
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about 1,900 as
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
DEEP-STRIKE CAPABILITY: The scenario simulated a PLA drill that turned into an assault on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, with the launchers providing fire support Taiwan yesterday conducted this year’s first military exercises at Longsiang Base in Taichung, demonstrating the newly acquired High Mobility Artillery Rocket System’s (HIMARS) ability to provide fire support and deep-strike capabilities. The scenario simulated an attack on Penghu County, with HIMARS trucks immediately rolling into designated launch areas and firing barrages at the Wangan (望安) and Cimei (七美) islands, simulating the provision of fire support against invading forces. The HIMARS are supposed to “fire and leave,” which would significantly increase personnel and equipment survivability, a military official said. The drill simulated an exercise launched by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern
RSS