Annan urges World to come to quake victims’ aid
By Our Special Correspondent

ISLAMABAD—The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Thursday said many more lives could have been saved after the October 8 earthquake, had the UN received all the resources and there were no logistic challenges in rushing relief to the inaccessible areas.
“Some of the people that died may have been saved...but we need much much more to be able to help the people in need,” the Secretary General told reporters at the Chaklala Air Base.
Annan, who is in Pakistan to attend the Nov 19 International Donors Conference to seek long term support of the world community in rebuilding the devastated areas in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the NWFP province said “We need more resources, not just for emergency but also for recovery and reconstruction”.
Pakistan requires US 5.2 billion dollars, including US 3.5 billion for reconstruction and US 1.7 billion for relief and rehabilitation costs.
The UN Secretary General said he expected from the world to give generously.
“For those who have the capacity to be generous, to give, and give willingly and I am not only speaking to the governments, but also to the private sector and individuals”.
Kofi Annan said the UN did receive some response the world could not have imagined the scale of devastation, till after the first few days.
“We began to realise the magnitude of the crisis and tried to mobilise as much resources as much possible from around the world”.
The Secretary General has also issued a revised Flash Appeal of US 550 million dollars for six months at the ministerial-level conference at Geneva on 26 October, however it has received only $119 million, as well as additional $40 million in pledges.
About the UN warning of second cycle of deaths, he said, the death rate has been increasing ever since.
“We are already in a way have seen some of that, because if we have been able to get all the resources, didn’t have the logistical challenges, that we have, some of the people that died may have been saved, but it wasn’t as bad as could have happened”.
The Secretary General said the UN planned to rebuild better houses in what he said was the “recovery plus - not just build what was before, but build it in a manner that can withstand God forbid another disaster, if it does come,” he added.
The Secretary General also asked the media to play its role in highlighting the magnitude of the devastation and the urgency to rush relief to the affected areas . “So we are counting on you as well,” he added.
The Secretary General was received by Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri, who thanked him for UN’s assistance to cope with the disaster.
The UN Secretary General is to visit Muzaffarabad and visit the relief camps.