Efforts on to help 200,000 quake survivors: Annan

SUNITED NATIONS—Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday evening that the U.N. was trying to ferry relief supplies by helicopter to about 2000,000 people in Pakistan’s mountainous regions, and he praised Pakistani people for the way they were helping the earthqauke victims.
“What was encouraging is the way the Pakistani people have responded to the needs of their fellow citizens,” Annan told reporters on his return to New York from a foreign tour which took him to Pakistan where he visited the quake-hit areas and participated in the international donors conference.
“It was massive,” he said of the devastating earthquake while giving his impressions. “It covered a very large area — 28,000 sq.km. — and from the air, you have the feeling some of the buildings are standing, because the roofs are on. But when you get to the ground, you discover that they are all not habitable and that they will all have to be reconstructed and the winter was coming and you have people, we still have about 200,000 people in the mountains who haven’t come down, in very difficult locations and we are trying to get supplies to them by helicopter and also preparing for them, if they decide to come down, so that we can look after them”.
Annan said he also saw “the pain in the eyes of young people, young orphaned children, boys and girls with emptiness in their eyes and the trauma they have gone through, and they are going to need quite a bit of help. And the Government is taking steps to get them counseling” He said he was particularly pleased that the pledging conference was successful and, “in fact, we overshot our target and I think this is very good news for those who need help”.
International aid pledges of $5.8 billion must be delivered and used to bring immediate relief supplies to survivors of last month’s earthquake that devastated the Kashmir region, the United Nations said. “Even in the face of such generosity, the risk of a second disaster looms large,’’ the UN said in a statement on its Web site. “In order to save lives today, these pledges must be fulfilled immediately.’’ An estimated 2.3 million people will need food aid at least until April, the UN said in its latest assessment. Relief agencies are trying to meet the needs of 2.1 million people scattered across the region, the world’s most mountainous area, the UN said. An estimated 230,000 people live in the worst-hit towns, it said.
“We remind donors that with winter fast approaching and life-saving resources scarce, tens of thousands of earthquake survivors face death, hunger and disease, as well as prolonged displacement and homelessness,’’ the UN said.
The UN and international aid agencies have said their relief operations, which mainly involve using helicopters to supply aid to survivors because many roads are impassable, may be halted unless more aid is received.—Agencies