Pakistan called for the early involvement of human settlement experts in the assessment and reconstruction of the quake- devastated areas in NWFP and Azad Kashmir where some 3.5 million people are now homeless.
"With the assistance and support of the international community, and with a strong resolve, we are determined to undertake the reconstruction task through a co-ordinated effort," Pakistani delegate Jamil Ahmad told the General Assembly economic committee.
"The damage is colossal and the challenge of reconstruction even bigger," he said after giving facts and figures of the havoc wrought by the October 8 earthquake.
He was speaking on agenda items entitled: "Implementation of the Outcome of the Second UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat-II) and Strengthening of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)."
Jamil Ahmad said the need for pro-poor policies focusing on tenure security for slum-dwellers and access to affordable housing had increased, considering the growth in population and the increase in the number of slums world-wide.
The international community should expand technical assistance to developing countries; identify disaster-prone areas and draw up mitigation and rapid-response strategies for post-disaster and post-conflict situations; and provide sustained technical assistance in reconstruction efforts.