International aid agencies have received less than one quarter of the funding they need for emergency relief for Pakistani quake victims, nearly one week after donors promised more money, the United Nations on Tuesday said.
UN agencies reiterated that the shortfall was threatening the relief effort with winter looming in the mountains of AJK, although aid was seeping through to more remote areas.
The UN's humanitarian co-ordination office (OCHA) said $131 million, or 24 percent of the $550 million appeal to fund urgently needed shelter, food and medical relief, had been received.
"It's not enough, it's very disappointing. We need more money and if it's not coming we will not be able to rent more helicopters," OCHA Spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told journalists.
"If no money is coming agencies will have to stop their programmes," she added. The UN refugee agency said it had delivered 2,000 tonnes of supplies to Pakistan, mainly shelter equipment, but 10 times more was needed as a "top priority".
"Two thousand tonnes is just a drop in the bucket when we look at the enormous needs," said Jennifer Pagonis, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimated 200,000 people in isolated villages had still not been reached.
Many relief workers were turning to alternative ways of providing temporary shelter against the impending snow and freezing cold, while more durable equipment filters through the pipeline.
The IOM was trying to find ways of using material from destroyed housing, while the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was supplying tarpaulins to weatherproof makeshift wooden shelters in remote villages.
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