UN: 200 000 need help
2005-11-08 07:55
New York - Relief organisations have been unable to reach 200 000 people in the snow-covered mountains of northern Pakistan, a month after a massive earthquake killed more than 73 000 people, the United Nations said on Monday.
The October 7 earthquake, which caused vast destruction mostly in northern Pakistan and also in India, poses a big challenge to the international community, said Jan Egeland, the UN co-ordinator for humanitarian affairs.
"It has been a test like no others for Pakistan as well as the world," Egeland said in New York, returning from a visit to Pakistan.
Egeland said the 200 000 people are living in inaccessible regions in mountainous regions cut off by roads and even from helicopter flights.
A UN World Food Programme representative in Pakistan said plans were made to drop enough food supplies into those remote areas and resupply each month.
"Winter will make resupplying problematic, but by no means totally impossible," said Michael Jones.
The world has pledged a total of $1.03bn to the Pakistani government as well as international organisations, including the United Nations. Governments have given directly to Pakistan $232m in aid in addition to the total pledges, Egeland said.
Relief organisations have been scrambling to bring aid to quake survivors because of the coming winter.
Egeland said 300 000 tents have been distributed and a similar number was in warehouses ready to be given out, which he said would meet immediate demands of people without shelters. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA