U.N. official pleads for cash for homeless as winter nears

$580 million was pledged, but not all was earmarked for immediate needs.
GENEVA (AP) -- Governments and other donors told the United Nations on Wednesday they were pledging an additional $580 million for Pakistani earthquake victims, but U.N. officials said it was unclear how much would be earmarked for immediate relief efforts with the bitter Himalayan winter looming.
The United Nations had requested $550 million in immediate aid on the eve of the donors' conference in Geneva, but officials said some of the new money might go to other humanitarian organizations or future reconstruction projects.
So far, $111 million has been specifically earmarked for the U.N. appeal, top U.N. relief coordinator Jan Egeland told reporters after the meeting.
"The good news is that we have very good pledges, but the bad news for us is that too little is committed to the U.N.'s flash appeal," he said.
He harshly criticized donors who are giving money for reconstruction, saying many of the survivors may not live long enough to benefit unless they get food and shelter soon.
"It is not right to sit with the money for reconstruction for one year from now if it is a question of whether people will still be alive," Egeland said.
The flash appeal is for U.N. agencies and a number of charities, including Save The Children and Catholic Relief Services. It does not cover separate appeals by agencies such as the Red Cross, even though some are working with U.N. agencies in the field.
Large pledge
Nearly half the new pledges -- $250 million -- came from the Islamic Development Bank, the financial arm of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, said Toby Lanzer, Egeland's aide. He said he believed the money was for reconstruction.
The United States increased its aid package to $156 million from $106 million, including airlifts by the U.S. military. But the United States stopped short of committing its new funds to the U.N.-led relief effort, saying the money could go to other aid groups.
The European Union's head office told the conference it was pledging an additional $60 million, but EU spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio in Geneva told The Associated Press that was part of pledges totaling $112 million announced earlier.
Egeland, who heads the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, called on all donors to specify how their money should be spent as soon as possible.
He stressed the need to concentrate on the immediate effort to save lives.
3 million homeless
The quake, which is believed to have killed nearly 80,000 people, left more than 3 million people homeless. Temperatures are already dipping below freezing in some areas, and the weather is expected to worsen in coming weeks, cutting off remote valleys where some 800,000 people are believed to lack any shelter whatsoever.
"All humanitarian organizations are acutely aware that our window of opportunity for action is closing with the onset of the severe winter," Egeland said.
But he added the United Nations was encouraged by the response Wednesday.
"With the resources made available today and the commitments that will come in the coming days, we will redouble our collective efforts," he said.
Shortly before the conference, Egeland said the United Nations was nearly doubling its appeal for donations for quake victims, urging governments to provide funds quickly.
Slow response
Donors had been slow to respond to initial fund-raising appeals, with the United Nations receiving only a third of the $312 million it requested. Egeland said donations came in at a much faster pace to meet the $900 million requested for victims of the 2004 tsunami.
"The scale of this tragedy almost defies our darkest imagination," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the donors' conference. "We meet today to prevent a second shock wave of deaths and to prevent further suffering."
Salman Shah, Pakistani federal minister, urged donors to speed up their giving.
"The more you help and the faster you help us, you will save lives," Shah said.
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