World must rise to quake challenge, says Annan
Foreign Desk Report

UNITED NATIONS—Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday praised Pakistan and India for setting aside differences and cooperating in bringing relief to the victims of the massive earthquake, saying the two rivals had provided an example for others to emulate.
“When it comes to saving lives, we should not let politics and other disagreements get in the way,” he said while reponding to a question at his press conference at which he made an appealers for more funds for Pakistan to deal with the “traumatic” situation. “And I think the reactions of both leaders and the two governments (India and Pakistan) have been exemplary”.
“I hope other governments around the world will follow that example when they find themselves in a similar situation,” he said.
Annan also said he was “very encouraged” to hear the two neighbours might allow free crossing of the Line of Control and further cooperate in helping victims of the devastating earthquake that struck on October 8 killing thousands of people in both countries.
“Already, there is a thaw and the two governments have improved their relations. I hope there will be further confidence-building measures that will propel their efforts forward,” he added.
Pakistan said it would open new helipads to reach cut-off quake survivors as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan begged for more world help to prevent a massive second wave of deaths.
Twelve days after the disaster left more than 47,700 people dead and three million homeless, Annan’s appeal underlined how authorities and aid agencies are still struggling to cope with the scale of the disaster.
Annan said at the United Nations headquarters in New York that an “immediate and exceptional escalation of the global relief effort” was needed to protect people from the merciless Himalayan winter. “That means a second, massive wave of death will happen if we do not step up our efforts now,” he said on Thursday. He also said he would attend a UN-sponsored emergency donors’ conference in Geneva next week and urged governments and other organizations to attend at the highest level.
“I expect results,” he said. “There are no excuses. If we are to show ourselves worthy of calling ourselves members of humankind, we must rise to this challenge”.
Annan complained that donors had only made firm commitments of 12 percent of the UN flash appeal of 312 million dollars, while the Asian tsunami appeal last December had been more than 80 percent funded within 10 days of the disaster. Amid UN predictions that 120,000 survivors have still not been reached and that 10,000 more children could die, Pakistani authorities who are still providing the backbone of the relief effort welcomed Annan’s comments. “We agree with what Kofi Annan said. We need more tents and blankets, nothing else. The food supplies are getting there but we need more tents and blankets,” said Major Farooq Nasir, an army spokesman in the devastated Azad Kashmir capital of Muzaffarabad.
The military said it was further stepping up its drive to get to the most remote areas using helicopters, mules and footsoldiers and would open 24 new helipads Thursday for quake aid flights in the Kashmiri mountains.
They are split between the devastated Jhelum and Neelum valleys outside Muzaffarabad.
“Twenty-four more helipads will be established from tomorrow (Thursday), and this means we will be able to help people who we have not been able to reach so far,” another army spokesman Colonel Rana Sajjad said late Wednesday.
The colonel said 109 flights — by an assortment of Pakistani and foreign military including German and US, as well as the International Committee for the Red Cross — took off on Wednesday, the most since the quake.
Britain pledged Wednesday to send three Royal Air Force Chinook heavy-lift helicopters to help, adding to five US Chinooks operating here among dozens of choppers from around the world.
But the relief flights, which continued Thursday morning in good weather, have failed to reach thousands of survivors in the rugged Himalayan foothills of Kashmir.
Muzaffarabad deputy commissioner Liaqat Hussain said 645 unclaimed bodies have been buried in mass graves here. Photographs of distinguishing features and other records were being kept for subsequent identification, he said.
Hussain said the authorities would provide “cooked food for 10,000 people daily, twice daily” from Thursday, as well as tents to allow classes to resume in partially destroyed school rooms.