Donors give £300m more for quake victims

Countries and other donors told the United Nations today they were pledging an additional £300m (€440m) for Pakistani earthquake victims, but UN officials said it was unclear how much was going to combined emergency relief efforts.

“The United Nations is grateful for the additional pledges so far of £300million to the assistance efforts in northern Pakistan,” top UN relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland said in a statement read to reporters outside a donors meeting.

Toby Lanzer, an aide to Egeland, said it was difficult to discern what funds would be going to the United Nations’ appeal and what would be going to other emergency efforts or even for reconstruction later on.

“Many pledges are still not specified as concrete commitments to humanitarian organisations,” said Egeland, who heads the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“Only earmarked contributions are actionable contributions for humanitarian organisations.”

Lanzer, who oversees appeals for OCHA, said almost half of the new pledges - £140m – came from the Islamic Development Bank, the financial arm of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

He said he had the impression that the bank’s money was for reconstruction - an issue “that we are not focusing on today.”

Egeland, however, stressed the need to concentrate on the immediate effort to save lives.

“All humanitarian organisations are acutely aware that our window of opportunity for action is closing with the onset of the severe winter,” his statement said.

But he said the UN was encouraged by the response.

“With the resources made available today and the commitments that will come in the coming days, we will redouble our collective efforts,” he said. “This will help energise further the struggle to reach the earthquake-stricken communities in the Himalayas.”

Lanzer said the donors conference was expected continue into the evening in Geneva, and that more pledges were expected. A better picture of the nature of the new pledges is expected within a few days, he said.

Shortly before the conference, Egeland announced the United Nations was nearly doubling its appeal for donations for quake victims, urging governments to provide funds quickly.

“The scale of this tragedy almost defies our darkest imagination,” UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the donors conference.

The October 8 quake centred in the mountains of north-eastern Pakistan has left some 79,000 people dead and an estimated 3.3 million homeless.

“We meet today to prevent a second shockwave of deaths and to prevent further suffering,” Annan said after observing a minute’s silence in honour of the victims.

The target amount for donations had to be raised because of the urgency of the challenge, with the Himalayan snowfalls expected within three to five weeks, Egeland said.

“We need more resources to save 2 million to 3 million lives, and we need much more resources in the next few days,” he said.

Salman Shah, Pakistani federal minister, urged the donors to speed up their giving.

“The more you help and the faster you help us, you will save lives,” Shah said.

Annan said every contribution counted: “Every dollar, euro or yen committed today will save lives.”

The international charity Oxfam said rich countries must respond generously.

“This is a race against time, and rich countries appear stuck in the slow lane,” Oxfam spokesman Brendan Cox said.

Besides government ministers and representatives of UN and other aid agencies, the meeting also was attended by representatives of Nato, which has been airlifting supplies and experts into the hard-hit areas of Pakistan.

The alliance has carried in 300 tons of emergency aid on 25 flights, and would deliver another 450 tons by Friday, said Alessandro Minuto-Rizzo, Nato’s deputy secretary-general.

Relief efforts have been hampered by massive logistical problems, continued aftershocks and mudslides in Pakistan’s mountainous area.