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| Sunday, 20 November 2005 |
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Pakistan opens donor conference PAKISTAN, Nov 19 (AFP) - Pakistan opened Saturday an international donors' meeting called to raise the 5.2 billion dollars it needs to recover from last month's earthquake, with survivors under threat from the harsh Himalayan winter. The country was in a "race against time", Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said in opening remarks to about 300 delegates from around 50 countries and a host of global financing and aid groups. "Winter has already set in threatening the lives of the survivors. There is a need to act; there is a need to act now," he said. "While the first wave of injuries and trauma have been taken care of, we recognise that the emergency relief assistance must continue for a period longer than expected... It is a marathon not a 100 metres dash," he said. The quake, one of the worst natural disasters in a century, left nearly 74,000 dead, more than double injured and 3.5 million homeless, most of them in Himalayan northern Pakistani Kashmir. Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will use the one-day meet to call for more international help, with Annan saying Friday the donor response so far "has been weak entirely." Six weeks after the quake, Pakistan had received just 30 percent of what it required, he said. UN and aid agencies have raised alarm that thousands more could die if funding problems disrupt relief operations with snow already falling in the disaster zone. The amount sought by Pakistan includes 3.5 billion dollars for long-term reconstruction of infrastructure and 1.7 billion dollars for relief and immediate rehabilitation of survivors. As the conference opened, the Asian Development Bank unveiled a billion-dollar package of grants and loans, the lion's share from a new credit line to be opened up in 2006. During a tour Friday of the UN relief camp in Muzaffarabad, near the epicentre of the quake, Annan said he hoped the international community would contribute generously on Saturday. "The figures seem big... But when you consider the magnitude of the task, it is not very much," Annan said. "I hope governments and individuals and private organisations, those with capacity, will give and give willingly and generously to help our fellow human beings in need," he said. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said there was "certainly a gap between our requirements and the pledges made so far." "Rehabilitation and reconstruction are urgent tasks which cannot wait. We
have to take prompt actions and naturally we will also mobilise our own
resources," she told AFP. |
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