JAKARTA, Jan 6 (AFP) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Thursday that 977 million dollars was immediately needed to cover humanitarian emergency needs for five million tsunami disaster survivors over the next six months.
Launching an appeal at a world summit in Jakarta, Annan said the December 26 catastrophe had likely killed more than 150,000 people and was the worst natural disaster the United Nations had ever had to respond to.
Annan said the figure of 977 million dollars would provide for an immediate "focused set of programmes" that the UN and affected nations had agreed on.
"We must set the stage for efforts in the longer term, as we move from saving lives to recovery and reconstruction," Annan said.
He acknowledged that the pledges of billions of dollars from governments around the world had already far exceeded the money needed for the initial appeal.
But he urged all nations to quickly turn their pledges into cash and remain committed for the long term.
"Many of the pledges have come to us in cash and in kind. We need the rest of the pledges to be converted into cash quickly," he said.
"We also need more people and more materiel to get the aid to those who are most in need, often in remote areas."
Annan said the carnage caused by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province and subsequent massive tsunamis that swept across the Indian Ocean was "an unprecedented global catastrophe".
"For the United Nations, it is the largest natural disaster the organisation has had to respond to on behalf of the world community in the 60 years of our existence," he said.
Annan commended governments and people around the world for their response. He said the disaster had offered a "singular chance to prove our humanity" and the world had risen to the challenge and united.
"The past 11 days have been among the darkest in our lifetime. But they have also allowed us to see a new kind of light," he said.
"We have seen the world coming together. We have seen an opportunity to heal old wounds and long-running conflicts. We have seen everyone pull together --- north, south, east and west."
Giving a breakdown of where some of the money was needed over the next six months, Annan said 229 million dollars was for food and agriculture, 222 million for shelter and other urgent non-food items, 122 million for health care and 61 million for water and sanitation.
01/06/2005 03:33 GMT - AFP