3.3 million have been left homeless by the South Asian earthquake

Pakistan's government has estimated 3.3 million people have been left homeless by the South Asian earthquake, up from the previous figure of 2.5 million, and hundreds of thousands have yet to see any relief at all, a senior U.N. humanitarian official said Monday.

Relief workers still haven't been able to reach many villages high up in the mountains of Pakistan more than a week after the quake hit on Oct. 8, according to Kevin Kennedy, a director at the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The job is only likely to get harder with winter approaching, Kennedy said.

Kennedy again urged international donors to give more, saying a U.N. appeal for US$312 million (Ђ259.5 million) in aid had only garnered US$6 million (Ђ5 million) so far, with another $50 million (Ђ41.6 million) pledged, something he called "not a very good showing at all."

But he said that it was still early and officials expected more aid to come in. Outside the appeal, some US$144 million (Ђ119.8 million) has been pledged.

Kennedy stuck to the official Pakistani death toll of 38,000, though new estimates Sunday put the number of dead at more than 54,000, including more than 13,000 in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province and about 1,350 in the part of divided Kashmir that India controls, AP reports.

А. А.