Pakistan: The United Nations and the Red Cross/Red Crescent organisation said yesterday that urgent cash support from the outside world was vital to save thousands of lives as winter moved in on homeless survivors of the Pakistan earthquake.
The UN, struggling to raise $550 million for a medium-term programme to help quake victims and rebuild shattered communities, appealed to donor countries for $42.4 million to fund relief in the region this month.
And the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, whose calls for funding normally meet a rapid response, said it so far had only 40 per cent of the $117 million it asked for soon after the quake on October 8th.
"This is what we need here and now to cover the next 30 days," assistant emergency relief co-ordinator Yvette Stevens told a Geneva meeting of donor country officials and relief agencies to present the new UN appeal.
"The acute emergency phase of this operation is not yet over," she said.
The federation's Finnish secretary-general, Markku Niskala, said: "This is one of the most complex relief operations ever. I am appealing to people and governments around the world to support us in this humanitarian work."
Official figures now put quake deaths in Pakistan's northern region and the western part of Kashmir that it administers at well over 73,000, with almost the same number injured. Hundreds of thousands have lost their homes.
"The death toll may rise over the course of the winter from totally preventable causes, such as injuries and exposure to cold because of lack of appropriate shelter," he added.
Officials from the world body's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Relief (OCHA) said that, as of yesterday, only $83.8 million had been received in cash and legal commitments from donor countries - mainly the world's richer nations - to meet an overall UN appeal for $550 million launched in mid-October.
Together with oral pledges, the total response was $132.4 million, an increase of only $1 million over the past week despite mounting warnings of a second disaster unless there is a faster flow of shelter supplies and medical aid to the region.
Ms Stevens told yesterday's meeting that providing shelter was the top priority at present, especially for some 200,000 people living in high valleys above the snow line. Meanwhile, Pakistani police fired tear gas and warning shots to disperse Kashmiri villagers yesterday when some tried to cross into Indian territory during an unprecedented frontier ceremony conducted by the two countries to exchange aid.
Hundreds of villagers on the Pakistani side of the Rawalakot-Punch crossing broke into a chant: "We want an independent Kashmir."
Witnesses said at least two men clutching young boys in their arms tried to dash over to the Indian side of the divided Himalayan region.
Army commanders said nobody was injured in the brief clash between police and civilians.
The men who tried to cross were arrested and the villagers sent away from the scene.
Indian officials said that more than two dozen truckloads of Indian aid, including tents, sugar, butter and medicine, would be sent across the line. Pakistani officials said a single truckload of aid from Pakistan was handed over to India, a reflection of the disparity in tragedy.
Pakistan lost more than 70,000 lives, while Indian Kashmir saw 1,600 deaths.
Last month India and Pakistan had agreed to open five relief sites, where not only were victims of the quake able to get aid but also Kashmiris could meet with bereaved relatives.
However on Saturday, India delayed the opening of four major sites including the Himalayan frontier, which until 2003 was the scene of bombing by both armies.
Officials in the two capitals said bureaucratic wrangling would delay chances for people to cross, partly because India must be assured that after the recent Delhi bombings, no Muslim militants would head into Indian territory.- (Reuters/Guardian service)