Earthquake: Search for survivors calls off
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-10-15 09:04

The United Nations launched an appeal Tuesday for some $272 million for quake victims, but its chief humanitarian envoy Hansjoerg Strohmeyer said an additional $40 million was needed.

So far, he said, pledges for just over $50 million have been received, with $4.6 million turned into firm commitments or contributions.

The biggest donations to the U.N. appeal are $17 million from Britain, $10 million from Sweden and $8 million from Canada, he said.

US President Bush pledged up to $50 million, and the U.S. Agency for International Development has already earmarked $10.8 million for the U.N. appeal, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations said. But the U.N. said this has not been reported yet to its financial tracking service.

Many countries have made bilateral donations to Pakistan.

In Islamabad, police launched a criminal investigation into the collapse of a 10-story luxury residence that was the capital's only structure to fall in the magnitude-7.6 quake, killing at least 40 residents.

"We will arrest all those who didn't perform their duty well," said the city police chief, Sikandar Hayat. "They might be the builders, contractors or supervisors."

Most of Pakistan's deaths were in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, where snow has started to fall in some areas. India has reported more than 1,350 deaths in the portion of Kashmir it controls.

Mohammed Hanif, a senior meteorologist in Islamabad, said rain was expected in Kashmir and other parts of Pakistan over the next day.

"Rains with thunderstorms will definitely disrupt relief operations in earthquake-hit areas," he said. Earlier this week, rains and hailstorms grounded helicopters flying food and other supplies to devastated areas.

Many exhausted relief workers dealt with the added burden of fasting during the daytime hours for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Water and electricity were restored to parts of Muzaffarabad, a Kashmiri city of 600,000 in the heart of the quake zone. Authorities worked to bring power back to outlying villages.