WASHINGTON, Nov 19: Nine US senators have urged the Bush administration to provide at least one-quarter of the estimated $5.2 billion needed for relief and reconstruction efforts in the quake-hit areas. In a letter addressed to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the senators also asked the administration to divert some of the $600 million appropriated for Pakistan for 2006. Under a bilateral arrangement, this money is meant for economic support funds and for purchasing defence equipment from the US.

In two separate letters, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barak Obama argued that helping the earthquake survivors was not only an important humanitarian task but it was also in America’s ‘geopolitical interest” to do so.

The joint letter, which is signed by nine senators, said that $156 million committed initially was “clearly insufficient to meet the needs of Pakistanis who are without adequate food and shelter”.

It also referred to a preliminary needs assessment by the Asian Development Bank which estimates the cost of effectively implementing a relief, recovery and reconstruction strategy at $5.2 billion, noting that traditionally the US covers “approximately one-quarter of the costs in such situation”.

At a donors’ conference in Islamabad on Saturday, the US increased its aid pledge to $500 million, but US lawmakers have moved two separate resolutions in the Senate and the House of Representatives, urging the administration to raise its contribution to $1 billion.

In their joint letter to Ms Rice, the senators noted that USAID had set aside an additional $100 million for Pakistan, over and above the amounts initially pledged. They said they were concerned that this relocation could affect other priority humanitarian aid programmes, such as Darfur.

In her separate letter, Mrs Clinton drew the administration’s attention to “the very real fear” that “we are about to witness a second wave of deaths caused by cold and disease” if immediate steps are not taken to help the victims.

Noting that the assistance so far provided has been “warmly welcomed by the Pakistani people,” Mrs Clinton said: “People of Pakistan are long and loyal friends of the US. We must do all in our power to alleviate the terrible suffering and tragedy caused by this disaster.”