THE Disasters Emergency Committee has raised £12m for survivors of the South Asia earthquake since launching its appeal earlier this week. A spokesman for the organisation, which is coordinating the fundraising efforts of 13 aid agencies, said: “We were receiving donations on Monday morning, when we had 1,000 lines open and people were also able to make donations online. We made an official announcement at Tuesday midday with our phone number and we launched the TV ad on Thursday, when we also had a live call centre.”

By Wednesday lunchtime the DEC said it had received pledges of £2m, rising to £5m by Thursday. The pledges reached £12m following the televised appeals.

But the charity said the response was not on the same scale as the tsunami appeal. “The tsunami was a unique case because of the time of year it happened, Christmas. There were British people involved, so it’s something the public could identify with. The video footage was also a pulling factor.

“That’s not been available in South Asia because of the inaccessibility of some of the areas. As a story it’s fallen down the news agenda. The pictures aren’t coming out of there.” Birmingham-based charity Islamic Relief, one of the DEC’s member agencies, has made an additional pledge of £2m towards relief efforts. —Dawn/The Guardian News Service

(To make a donation to the DEC Asia Quake Appeal call the 24-hour donation line on 0870 6060900 or visit www.dec.org.uk to donate online.)