PESHAWAR, Nov 17: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli has expressed the hope that the international donors’ conference on Nov 19 will raise a sizable amount for the reconstruction of areas hit by the October 8 earthquake.

“The international community, which had come to the rescue of the tsunami-hit countries by donating $13 billion, will also help Pakistan in these hard times,” she told journalists.

She said the government was optimistic about the outcome of the conference because of the scheduled participation of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in it.

She said it was beyond the strength of the government to overcome the loss caused by the earthquake.

She said the government had estimated the reconstruction cost at $5.1 billion.

Ms Tahirkheli said the earthquake, besides killing and injuring tens of thousands of people in nine districts in the NWFP and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, had shattered the entire infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and buildings of government departments.

“The government is preparing of packages for construction of homes, hospitals, schools and colleges and reconstruction of the destroyed areas at tehsil level,” she said, adding that the government pinned great hopes on the conference in this regard.

She said donor organizations had been aggressively engaged in the relief and rehabilitation work.

She said the international community would not leave Pakistan alone in this hard time and would extend generous assistance to rehabilitate the survivors and enable them to begin their lives anew.

She said about 500,000 tents had been distributed among the quake victims in the affected areas six relief and three aviation centres had been established, which operated round the clock.

She said the earthquake had reduced to rubble some 400,000 houses.

She said the government had sincerely offered the opposition to join a parliamentary committee to scale up the relief efforts.