Angelina Jolie urges world to speed assistance to quake-hit Pakistan

Nov 25, 2005, 15:29 GMT

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie gestures during a press conference in Islamabad on Friday 25 November 2005. Angelina Jolie, a goodwill ambassador of the U.N. Refugees Agency (UNHCR), arrived in Pakistan Thursday to visit some of the areas ravaged by October\'s earthquake that killed more than 75,000 people and made another 3.5 million homeless. Since making her debut in 1984, Oscar-winner Jolie has acted in many box-office hits, but is known to her fans in Pakistan more for her role in \'Tomb Raider\'. EPA/T.MUGHAL

Islamabad - Hollywood star Angelina Jolie Friday called for turning recent international assistance pledges into reality as soon as possible to prevent a 'second disaster' due to winter cold from hitting Pakistan's quake-hit areas.

'There are so many wonderful pledges of money that could come in the next few years but the winter is in the next few weeks,' Jolie told reporters in reference to the over 6 billion dollars several counries and international finance institutions pledged for reconstruction during a donors' conference last week.

Jolie, on a 'semi-private' visit with boyfriend film star Brad Pitt, Thursday visited some of the tent villages set up for the quake survivors and distributed relief goods among them, and sounded alarmed over the plight of the quake victims.

Jolie also warned against the 'donors fatigue' because of 'so many disasters worldwide during the year' and stressed the situation in Pakistan was grim and required an immediate remedial measures to save people from cold deaths and starvation.

Ealier, both Jolie, a goodwill ambassador of the U.N. Refugees Agency (UNHCR) and Antonio Guterres, UNHCR Commissioner, met with President Pervez Musharraf to express grief and solidarity over the October 8 earthquake that killed over 75,000 people and injured about 100,000.

Commissioner Guterres assured his agency's full support to Pakistan, saying despite having no mandate in such disasters, UNHCR was obliged to do it for the country's long-standing support to help millions of Afghan refugees for many years.

'Solidarity is not a one-way thing, it must be two-way,' he said.

Pakistan is still host to an estimated three million Afghans, many of whom migrated to the country after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.