NAIROBI, Dec 15: The United Nations on Thursday launched an urgent appeal for more than 20 million dollars to build shelter for people left homeless in Pakistan by a devastating earthquake and in Zimbabwe by a controversial demolitions campaign. The Nairobi-based UN Human Settlement Programme (HABITAT) asked donors to contribute 22 million dollars for the appeal that aims to assist millions of Pakistanis and Zimbabweans.

“There is an urgent need to stabilize the shelter conditions of the poor people who were evicted and who have now been living out in the cold and in the open for almost six months,” HABITAT chief Ann Tibaijuka said in a statement.

“There is also a desperate need to meet the shelter demands of those affected by the earthquake in Pakistan especially now that winter has set in,” she said.

Just over 18 million dollars of the money will spent in Pakistan, where more than 3.5 million people were left homeless after the October quake destroyed nearly 80 percent of homes and public buildings in some areas, it said.

The remainder is to be used in a UN-backed programme, approved by Harare, to build 2,500 semi-permanent housing units for at least 12,500 Zimbabweans in the impoverished southern African nation, it said.—AFP