UN calls for 'Berlin airbridge' in Kashmir

United Nations emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland has appealed to Nato to launch a massive airlift to evacuate tens of thousands of earthquake victims in Pakistani Kashmir.

Speaking at a news conference in Geneva today, he said the situation was worse than the disaster created by the Asian tsunami in December last year.

He urged India and Pakistan to set aside their differences over Kashmir and "work out a compromise immediately" to step up aid flowing across the line of control.

"We need a second Berlin airbridge, and if they could do that in the end of the 1940s, set up in no time a lifeline to millions of people, we should be able to do that in 2005," he said.

"We are humanitarians, we don't know how to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people in the Himalayas. But the most efficient military alliance in the world should be able to," Mr Egeland said, adding that he had appealed directly to Nato.

Earlier, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that since the earthquake 12 days ago, only $84 million - or 27 per cent - of the appeal has been pledged, compared to the tsunami appeal, which was more than 80 per cent funded within 10 days of the disaster.

Mr Egeland said of the aid sent so far: "This is not enough. We have never had this kind of logistical nightmare ever. We thought the tsunami was the worst we could get. This is worse."

The tsunami, which struck on 26th December, killed more than 200,000 people around the Indian Ocean.

Although 20 field hospitals have been set up in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, infections including tetanus and gangrene are setting in among many of the 67,000 seriously wounded, forcing doctors to amputate, according to Mr Egeland.

Shameen Wali (12) lies in a stretcher in her way towards Balakot in Naran Valley, Pakistan

Mr Annan has called for a major escalation of the effort to aid earthquake victims in Pakistan and has predicted many more deaths if the world fails to respond adequately.

"What is needed is an immediate and exceptional escalation of the global relief effort to support the work of the government of Pakistan," Mr Annan told a news conference.

He described the effort as one of the most difficult ever undertaken due to the extent of the devastation, the rough terrain and the approaching Himalayan winter.

Without enough blankets or tents to protect the area population from the falling temperatures, there will be "a second wave" of dead of massive proportions, he said.

"We need helicopters, trucks and heavy-lifting equipment. It will require shelter and health care," he said. "There are no excuses. We must rise to this challenge."

Additional reporting: Reuters, AP