Direct and indirect losses to crops, livestock and irrigation infrastructure from last month''s earthquake in northern Pakistan and Azad Kashmir total more than $440 million, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Wednesday.
But the Rome-based UN agency regretted that it has received not one cent of the $25 million it has sought for immediate emergency aid.
"To help these farming communities resume their economic activities as soon as possible, quick impact activities have to be started at once to clear cultivated areas, restock animals, restore land productivity and rebuild livestock shelters and grain storage," FAO Emergency Operations Service Chief Fernanda Guerrieri said.
"Lost or destroyed tools, machinery and equipment also need to be replaced," she added, releasing the findings of an FAO assessment.
With a death toll currently estimated at more than 70000, few families in the quake-affected areas escaped the loss of human life, the assessment found. Those affected have also seen a dramatic depletion of their assets.
With up to 3 million people estimated to have been left homeless, shelter has been reduced to rubble, water and energy supplies have been cut off, and transport system seriously threatened by unstable link roads and the strong likelihood of further landslides as winter sets in Financial assets have been badly hit, with cash, jewellery, livestock and other asset buried under collapsed houses.
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