UN Raises Aid Appeal for Pakistani Quake Victims in Race Against Time Essay

UN Raises Aid Appeal for Pakistani Quake Victims in Race Against Time - Essay Example As the paper declares relief agencies are trying to rush shelter and medical treatment to villages in the mountainous region before they are cut off by winter snow within around three weeks. The Red Cross warned in a statement on Wednesday that thousands of the most vulnerable survivors in remote villages could die of exposure if they are left without care or shelter in the freezing cold of the Himalayan foothills. This discussion stresses that the UN has been struggling to fill its current appeal of $312 million for emergency assistance over six months and says that the shortage is slowing the relief effort. Pakistan's Senate chairman, Muhammad Soomro, and minister for economic affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, are expected to outline the extent of destruction of life and property in Pakistan caused by the 7.6 magnitude earthquake. The quake devastated an area of more than 28,000 square kilometers (11,000 square miles), depriving more than 1.1 million people of their jobs and reducing thousands of schools and hospitals to rubble, according to Pakistani officials. Byrs said that the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), which is delivering urgently needed tents for about 3.3 million homeless people in Pakistani Kashmir, and the World Food Program, which provides food rations, were short of funding. Bad weather has been forecast in the region this week, while snowfall is expected to ground most of the 100 or so h elicopters ferrying help to isolated villages in the region by the middle of next month, according to the UN.