The world came through for earthquake-devastated Pakistan today, promising billions of dollars in extra aid to rebuild the lives of millions of destitute survivors.
"The rough total we have as of now is $5.4 billion," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said at an international donors conference in Islamabad.
The sum exceeds Pakistan's target of $5.2 billion for recovery and reconstruction in the mountainous quake zone where a new disaster threatens as winter sets in.
Pakistan had been around $3 billion short of what it needs to rebuild houses, schools, hospitals, water and energy supplies, roads and civic administration.
The new pledges came after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that survivors would die unless relief funds came soon.
"The pitiless Himalayan winter is almost upon us and growing more and more severe every week," Annan told the conference which opened with harrowing video of quake damage and survivors.
"We must sustain our efforts to keep people as healthy and as strong as possible until we can rebuild," he told representatives from around 50 donor countries.
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf praised old rival India for its help and appealed to it to seize the opportunity the quake had given the two countries to resolve their dispute over Kashmir, the region hit hardest by the tremor.
"Let us together solve the Kashmir dispute once and for all," Musharraf said.