UN’s plea for quake relief falls well short of target

THE United Nations said yesterday it has received only $85 million of the $550m it has requested for the survivors of Pakistan’s devastating earthquake.

With about $49m more pledged, an additional $42.6m is needed to get through November, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. A month after last year’s tsunami, aid groups were hailing history’s most successful fund-raising drive and starting to rebuild. A month after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was nearly pumped dry and the mayor spoke optimistically of the future.

But one month after an earthquake killed more than 87,000 people in the Himalayas, there is barely enough money to keep relief operations going. Staying alive is all that matters for more than three million people left homeless - and with winter bearing down, survival is not assured.