Ex-Pres Bush pleads for more Pakistan quake aid

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 7 (Reuters) More than 90 million dollars in pledges made to Pakistan after a devastating earthquake a year ago has yet to be delivered and is urgently needed, former US President George Bush has said.

Bush, a special envoy of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for the South Asia earthquake, said about two thirds of the 255 million dollars budgeted for an early recovery plan had been received. But the rest of the money promised by various donor nations has not yet been paid.

''I want to highlight the fact that we're still missing 94 million dollars, which is critical for bridging the gap from relief to recovery,'' Bush told a news conference at UN headquarters ahead of the October 8 first anniversary of the disaster.

The earthquake killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistan and 1,500 in Indian Kashmir and left more than 3 million people destitute.

Bush, whose job as a special envoy ends in January, said areas still underfunded are water and sanitation, housing, and support to vulnerable people.

''In terms of getting the pledges turned into something meaningful, we have made a start by contacting the different donor countries,'' he said. ''I'm not satisfied that they have responded totally the way we would like.'' Bush said he was concerned about donor fatigue, because so many humanitarian efforts around the world need funding, like the ongoing recovery from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed about 230,000 people.

A month after the quake, international donors pledged 6.5 billion dollars for Pakistan to help it through the relief, recovery and reconstruction phases of the crisis.

Reconstruction costs had been put at 3.6 billion dollars originally, but that figure greatly underestimated the number of new houses needed.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday the amount now required was 4.4 billion dollars, leaving Pakistan 800 million dollars short.

REUTERS DKS RAI0441