India offers €20.6m to Pakistan relief effort

INDIA has offered €20.6 million in aid to Pakistan in the latest goodwill gesture between the two countries since a powerful earthquake devastated the disputed Kashmir region.

India made the offer at a meeting of the United Nations in Geneva yesterday, said spokesperson Navtej Sarna said.

"Pakistan is free to use the money for rebuilding homes, rehabilitating people and reconstructing infrastructure and restoring essential services," Mr Sarna said.

The October 8 quake killed about 78,000 people, most in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, which is split between the South Asian neighbours. More than 1,300 people died on the Indian side.

India and Pakistan rivals for decades but now talking peace have traded offers and counter-offers as they try to forge a shared relief effort in the Himalayan region.

Last week Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf proposed to allow residents from India's portion of Kashmir to cross over the highly-militarised Line of Control that divides the region to meet relatives on the Pakistani side and help with relief work.

New Delhi welcomed the move.

Its military has since started work on relief camps along the frontier for quake victims on the Indian side.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation has warned that at least 22 victims of the earthquake have died of tetanus.

Communications officer Sacha Bootsma said there had been 111 cases since the quake struck on October 8.

Tetanus, more commonly known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection of the nervous system.