World leaders act to aid Asian quake nations

LONDON, Sunday (Reuters, AFP) - U.S. President George W. Bush and other world leaders sent or offered rescue teams and aid to Pakistan, India and Afghanistan on Sunday after a huge quake battered the three countries, killing more than 18,000 people.

The United States, which had to mount major domestic relief efforts in the past few weeks when hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck, said it would provide $100,000 in emergency aid funding to Pakistan and was also offering U.S. military helicopters.

"Our initial deployments of assistance are under way and we stand ready to provide additional assistance as needed," Bush, who counts Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as a key ally in the U.S.-led war against terrorism, said in a statement.

"My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this horrible tragedy," said Bush.

Britain, Japan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were among other countries dispatching immediate help.

The United Nations said it was in contact with Pakistan, India and Afghanistan to help after Saturday's 7.6 magnitude earthquake, South Asia's strongest for 100 years.The Swiss government put an aircraft on standby to fly a U.N. disaster and coordination team to Pakistan, the worst hit of the three countries.

"It is anticipated the death toll might be severe," U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland said in a statement.

The U.N. International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said it had begun moving blankets, clothing, tents, emergency medical supplies, food for infants and water purification tablets from a Karachi warehouse to quake affected areas.

UNICEF executive director Ann Veneman said children made up half the population of the affected areas and would be vulnerable to hunger, cold, illness and trauma.

"Getting immediate life-saving relief into the region will be our priority for the next hours and days, even as the search and rescue effort goes on," said Veneman.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh phoned Musharraf to offer assistance with relief and rescue work, as the quake produced a further easing of tensions between the two once arch-rival nuclear armed countries.

An Indian Foreign Ministry official said Musharraf thanked Singh and would get back to him if Pakistan needed any help. Both countries would stay in regular contact, said the official.

British officials said Britain was sending search and rescue experts, sniffer dogs and aid workers to Pakistan.

"We offered immediate assistance to the government of Pakistan which they have accepted," said International Development Minister Hilary Benn.

A first search and rescue team left London's Heathrow airport on Saturday. Japan, experienced in dealing with quakes because of its location in a vulnerable region, said it was sending aid and medical workers to Pakistan after a request from the Pakistani government.

The Foreign Ministry in Tokyo said in a statement the first group of about 50 workers would leave Japan on Sunday.

Turkey, another quake-prone nation, said it had sent two military planes with doctors, rescue workers and aid to Pakistan.

The cargo included two ambulances and a transport vehicle, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office said in a statement.

The Turkish Red Crescent had asked for three more planes to take aid to quake victims, it said.

Turkey has warm ties with fellow Muslim nation Pakistan. Musharraf spent part of his youth in Turkey. The United Arab Emirates said it had sent a police rescue team to Pakistan.

Earlier Europe responded swiftly to Saturday's devastating earthquake in South Asia, pledging emergency funds, aid and search-and-rescue equipment as well as condolences for the victims.

"We are all hoping that the news does not get steadily worse ... but we are fearful that the casualty figures may mount," said EU aid commissioner Louis Michel after the quake struck Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

"We can already say that its ... a major disaster," said an EU spokesman at the end of the day, as the scale of the disaster became increasingly clear.

In Berlin Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Germany had immediately released 50,000 euros to be made available to Pakistani authorities through Berlin's embassy in Islamabad.

The German Red Cross would be working with the Pakistani Red Crescent to bring relief to affected areas, and Berlin was in contact with the United Nations with regard to further humanitarian action, he said. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder sent letters of condolences to Pakistani and Indian leaders.

"The information (we have received) and the images we have of the earthquake that has struck your country fill us with sadness. Our thoughts go to the victims and their loved ones," he wrote to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

The French government said it was sending a 25-member emergency rescue team, along with sniffer dogs and cutting material, while Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy pledged in a statement to provide "any assistance which Pakistan could need."

"France is standing by Pakistan in this painful trial," said President Jacques Chirac in a message of support to his Pakistani counterpart.

In Geneva a seven-man UN team left for Islamabad to set up a "coordination and evaluation team" for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).