The U.N. food agency said on Saturday it had enough supplies to feed thousands of Pakistani earthquake survivors through the winter but it needed more money to maintain food distribution until spring, Reuters reported. James Morris, the head of the World Food Programme (WFP), said the agency had funds to fly its helicopters until the end of January, but needed up to $70 million more to carry operations through to the end of winter in April. "It is the toughest physical natural disaster the World Food Programme has ever seen," he told a news conference after visiting quake-hit areas in Pakistani Kashmir and neighbouring North West Frontier Province. The Oct. 8 quake killed more than 73,000 people and made more than 3 million homeless. There are fears that many poorly nourished survivors may not survive the harsh Himalayan winter. Morris said the WFP had bolstered food rations to provide extra calories needed for people to survive the cold weather. He said the agency had accepted the responsibility of providing food for 400,000 people who could be reached by air and 600,000 others reachable by land. However, he said bad weather and landslides would inevitably disrupt the flow of supplies.
