UN to urge donors to speed up Pakistan quake aid

GENEVA, Wednesday (AFP) UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will meet senior officials and ministers from at least 65 donor countries Wednesday to urge them speed up the relief effort for earthquake victims in Pakistan.

After collecting less than one third of its 312 million dollar (259 million euro) appeal for aid, the UN and Red Cross fear thousands of injured and homeless people will be stranded without care in the mountains of Pakistani Kashmir over winter.

Bad weather has been forecast in the region this week, while snowfall is expected to ground most of the 100 or so helicopters ferrying help to isolated villages in the region by the middle of next month, according to the United Nations.

"If we do not reach all the most seriously injured in isolated villages within two weeks, we will face a second wave of deaths," UN humanitarian affairs spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told AFP.

The UN, which is coordinating international aid, has so far collected 68 million dollars in cash and another 35 million dollars in pledges from donor governments for six months of emergency relief funding.

Annan was expected to lead calls for a swifter response, alongside Pakistan's minister of state for economic affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar and presidential economics advisor Salman Shah.

Pakistani officials said they were also looking towards long-term help to rebuild the region, with losses estimated at around five billion dollars.