UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for almost $460 million (£293.7 million) in emergency aid for Pakistan after floods devastated large areas of the country.
Launching the appeal at U.N. headquarters, humanitarian chief John Holmes said it would cover a 90-day period of immediate relief but would be revised within a month as the situation developed and more information came in.
According to U.N. figures, more than 14 million people have been affected by the floods, more than 1,200 have died and nearly 300,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. Holmes said some 6 million people were in need of aid.
He told U.N. envoys the disaster was "one of the most challenging that any country has faced in recent years" and that although the death toll was relatively low for such a disaster, the number affected was "extraordinarily high."
"If we don't act fast enough, many more people could die of diseases and food shortages," he said.
The U.N. humanitarian division OCHA said about one third of the requested aid would go on food, with other priority areas being clean drinking water, tents and medical supplies.
Holmes said that even before Wednesday's appeal was launched, the United Nations had received promises or commitments of over $150 million to tackle the effects of the flooding, which first struck at the end of July.
U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo told the meeting Washington had so far pledged to provide $71 million in assistance to those affected by the floods, including through the United Nations.
Pakistan's U.N. Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon said cholera was breaking out in affected areas. "That is going to be very dangerous," he said.
He also warned that "terrorists" -- an apparent reference to Taliban militants against whom the Pakistan army had been making advances -- were "trying to get a foothold again by seeming to be people who are working in these far-off places."
(Reporting by Patrick Worsnip; Editing by Jerry Norton)
