UN chief warns of new wave of death

WITH just $37 million (€30 million) of the UN appeal for $312m (€259m) committed, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has warned a second “massive wave of death” will hit Pakistani areas affected by the mammoth earthquake unless the international community immediately escalates the relief effort.

With winter approaching fast and terrain difficult in the affected area of some 11,000 square miles, the relief effort is one of the most challenging ever undertaken, he said.

"It is a race against time to save the lives of these people," Mr Annan said. "This is a huge, huge disaster... perhaps the biggest ever that we have seen... and at the time of the cold season.