ASIA/PAKISTAN - Pakistan is promised more than enough money to rebuild earthquake hit area: donors offer 6 billion more than requested

Lahore (Fides Service) - Thanks to international donors Pakistan can start the work of rebuilding after the October 8 earthquake in Kashmir which killed 73,000 and left 3 million people homeless. Donor governments and institutions have promised Pakistan 5.8 billion dollars.
This sum, reached during a donor meeting in Islamabad, is even higher than the 5.2 billion dollars requested by Pakistan. The largest amounts came from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank which promised 1 billion dollars each. Large amounts were also assigned by the Muslim Development Bank 500 million dollars, the United States 510 million dollars, Saudi Arabia 573 million dollars, and China 326 million dollars.
The 50 Donors invited to Islamabad by President Pervez Musharraf and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan responded generously after the latter’s call to help these poor people. Annan lamented that so far governments had only promised 25-30% of the sum necessary,
Pakistan has said most of the money will be used for rebuilding and to restore services, transport, electrical power, medical care and schools. About 3.5 billion dollars will go to build homes and infrastructures. The donors meeting gave the president of Pakistan the opportunity to show the world that relations with India over the disputed Kashmir region have improved .
In the meantime local NGOs and Caritas continue to provide the homeless with means to survive Himalayan Winter conditions. Caritas workers continue to distribute aid particularly baby foods and other products for children. Some 15,000 children have been vaccinated against various diseases thanks to Caritas.
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 22/11/2005 Righe: 26 Parole: 269)