UN Relief Coordinator calls for more helicopters

The UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, toured the devastated city of Muzaffarabad on Thursday - close to the epicentre of Saturday's massive regional earthquake - to see for himself the extent of the disaster that has killed at least 25,000 people and left more than 2 million homeless. "The biggest problem at the moment is to reach people in outlying areas. It's heart breaking to see flattened small villages. This devastation is just a complete nightmare, 70 percent of this city has been completely destroyed," Egeland told IRIN. The earthquake has destroyed more than 80 percent of structures and buildings in parts of northern Pakistan, and strong aftershocks are threatening buildings already damaged by the initial earthquake. Many cities and villages in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), the most affected areas, have been wiped out. More than four million people are affected, of whom one million are in acute need of assistance. Five days after the earthquake struck, relief workers are battling to get assistance to needy people in thousands of isolated communities. "We are most concerned for the people stuck in small villages. It's a race against the clock," Egeland noted, after a helicopter tour of the region around Muzaffarabad. The UN humanitarian coordinator promised a 60-bed medical facility would be established in the city, where most hospitals and clinics have been destroyed, by the end of this week. He also issued an urgent appeal for more helicopters - the only way to ferry aid to the many settlements cut off - saying many more were needed right now if thousands of lives are to be saved. More aid was on the way, he said. "In the pipeline we have 10,000 tents and 100,000 blankets but it takes time to get them into these areas." The United Nations on Tuesday launched a Flash Appeal for approximately US $272 million for Pakistan, in response to the 7.6 magnitude earthquake. The appeal aims at life-saving and early recovery activities for a six-month emergency phase. Egeland also asked donor countries to be generous in responding to the emergency. More than 30 countries have already pledged more than $300 million to help the victims and pay for reconstruction. Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have given $100 each. "Next week there will be a big donor conference in Geneva to get funding for the quake-hit region," Egeland said.