ANNAN APPEALS FOR MORE GLOBAL AID

By Naveen Shakir, SARID, Cambridge, MA, Oct. 20, 2005

Secretary General of United Nations Kofi Annan warned the international community on Wednesday that if relief efforts in South Asia are not increased, there will be a second, massive wave of death. In his statement he noted that governments and organizations must rise to the occasion in order to be worthy of calling themselves members of humankind.

Mr. Annan has asked many of the key donors and organizations such as NATO and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to meet logistical challenges. Donors have committed only 12% ($37 million) of the appeal made for $312 million, so far. All essential infrastructure has been destroyed and with winter approaching fast, the terrain makes this one of the hardest relief operations ever undertaken. Jan Egeland, the United Nations relief coordinator, reported to Mail & Guardian Online, that they have never had this kind of a logistical nightmare, and that this could be worse than the tsunami.

Equipment such as winterized tents (up to 450,000), temporary shelters, blankets (2 million), sleeping bags, tarpaulins, ground sheets, stoves, water, sanitation equipment and food, were all named as supplies needed. In the next few weeks, close to 10,000 children could die of hunger or hypothermia.

The latest death toll is 42,000 with at least 67,000 injured, but many of the more remote areas have still not been reached. The Secretary-General has stated that the death toll will continue to rise and that many of the people left homeless, close to 3 million, will have to be protected from the merciless Himalayan winter. He has asked for an immediate and exceptional escalation of the relief effort, globally, in support of the Pakistani Government.