Annan asks world to urgently help Pakistan

UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent letters on Friday to the leaders of all UN member states appealing for urgent contributions to help the earthquake victims.

He urged the nations to demonstrate “the same sense of global solidarity and commitment that we saw in the wake of the tsunami” last December. “As winter approaches, it is a race against time to provide shelter to the over three million displaced. I fear the death toll will rise dramatically if we fail to assist the people immediately,” he said.

“We need an immediate and exceptional escalation of the global relief effort to support the work of the government of Pakistan,” Annan said, adding the UN is calling an urgent ministerial-level meeting in Geneva on Oct 26 “to review our collective response”. afp

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