UN relief teams assisting victims of the deadly tsunamis have together sought $ 130 million from international donors to meet requests for immediate relief.
"We are launching from the country teams the following appeal for money needed immediately for a total of $ 130 million," UN chief disaster relief coordinator Jan Egeland told reporters on Wednesday.
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He said the first amount of $ 70 million would go to Sri Lanka, $ 40 million to Indonesia and $ 20 million to the Maldives islands.
He saw 50 to 60 nations joining the relief effort and said so far the world body has got pledges for more than $ 220
million and the amount is continuously increasing.
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A much larger, coordinated appeal for the first six months would be launched, probably by the secretary-general,
on January 6 in New York.
An even larger, reconstruction appeal would follow to rebuild the affected societies.
Egeland also welcomed India joining donor nations to provide relief to the victims at a time when it itself was involved in rescuing hundreds of thousands of victims.
He said that the creation of a consortium of four countries - US, India, Australia and Japan - announced by President George W Bush to coordinate international aid to Asian tsunami victims would not interfere with UN efforts.
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"I think it complements in an excellent way our efforts to coordinate," Egeland said.
Highlighting the increasing number of casualties, Egeland said it was "beyond belief how many people were lost in the Banda Aceh region alone. Aid workers are gaining access to new areas."
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