THURI CAMP (Muzaffarabad), Nov 18: The visiting UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, who spent almost four hours on Friday visiting the earthquake-hit areas and making an assessment of the magnitude of the disaster, said he had been both impressed and depressed by what he had seen.
He was accompanied by Mrs Nane Annan, President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Begum Sehba Musharraf during a trip to the Thuri Park Camp tent village in Muzaffarabad and a rehabilitation centre in Hattian for destitute women and children.
Talking to media, Mr Annan observed: “I have been depressed by the number of houses that have been destroyed and will need to be rebuilt but impressed by the level of cooperation and determination that I have seen this morning.”
He was highly appreciative of the work of his UN colleagues, the NGOs and other organisations engaged there and said such collaboration would have a far greater impact.
The secretary-general said: “I came to see the situation for myself and to listen to the needs of the people and to have discussions with the government.” When asked what message would he want to give to the international community, Mr Annan said: “I would want to tell them that the situation is serious, the needs are enormous and the people affected can use all the help that they can get.” He added: “I hope they will be able to support these people, regardless of the distance, regardless of where they are. When so many people are affected none of us should be indifferent.”
On the International Donors’ Conference he said: “Tomorrow I have a pledging conference. I will appeal to the donor community and to the world to respond to the appeal for money for reconstruction and to help people recover their livelihood and their jobs.”
“We need $ 5.2 billion. The figures seem big but when we consider the magnitude of the task this is not very much. I hope that the governments, the individuals and private organisations will keep on to give willingly and generously to help our brother human beings in need.”
Describing the scene of devastation he observed: “This earthquake is one of the largest humanitarian tragedies we’ve have to deal with and seeing it and realising that house after house has been destroyed, people have had to be moved into tents and some are still up in the mountains.”
He saw it as “a really tragic and urgent” situation with a gigantic scale. “We often talk of tsunami but when you look at the terrain here and the logistical challenge that had to be overcome in order to get aid to the people it is really a gigantic task that we have ahead of us,” he observed.
In response to a question about a mechanism to ensure transparency of the earthquake relief assistance the UN secretary-general said that during tsunami the UN had a tracking mechanism for tracking spending and donations. “So on our side we are working with our partners and I think we should do that,” he told a questioner.
Earlier, after arriving at the Thuri camp, home to nearly 1,500 survivors from different villages, Mr Annan also went inside some tents where he asked the well being of the survivors. In one tent, his wife Nane gave Rs 2,000 to Shahina Bibi, a survivor from Leepa valley with two children whereas another woman, Sakina Bibi, received Rs 6,000 from her.
Mrs Annan also administered vaccines to some children. The health ministry has launched a campaign to immunise around 80,000 children in AJK in two weeks. The UN chief also briefly addressed the survivors.
On arrival the AJK prime minister received the President and UN secretary-general who were first taken to the PM secretariat for a briefing. The on-the-map briefing was given by the GoC Maj-Gen Khalid Khan on the initial damage, relief operations and the challenges ahead.
THURI CAMP (Muzaffarabad), Nov 18: The visiting UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, who spent almost four hours on Friday visiting the earthquake-hit areas and making an assessment of the magnitude of the disaster, said he had been both impressed and depressed by what he had seen.
