Andrew Macleod told a press briefing, the relief operation would continue despite funding difficulties.
AJK relief operation in-charge Brigadier Iftikhar Ali Khan also present on the occasion. Macleod said the UN relief activities would be continued in collaboration with the government and Pakistan army. He said the UN had received $253 million in response to its flash appeal for $550 million for relief operations in earthquake-hit areas.
The funding situation is still difficult. "We need approximately $50 million to keep the operation going," the UN official said. Macleod appealed donor countries to sustain their financial assistance to the UN for the relief and rehabilitation phase. He expressed the hope in the new year, the UN would receive the remaining amount.
He appreciated the role of Pakistan army and civil administration in carrying out relief activities in affected areas. "We never had a better example of civil and military co-operation in any natural disaster in any country," he said.
Macleod was of the opinion the scale of destruction in this natural disaster was very big. "I do not think the world fully understands how big this natural disaster really is. Comparing it to tsunami, geographically the area here is larger than covered by tsunami, he said.
He said logistic challenge here was more difficult than faced in Indonesia as "we have huge mountains and, of course, the critical thing we have here is the absolute brutal Himalayan climate".
On the occasion, Brigadier Iftikhar Ali Khan told the media that a comprehensive strategy has been evolved to compensate affected people to restore their normal life.
He said a special package is being offered for widows and orphans.
Together with the Pakistani authorities, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would soon launch a household-level registration exercise to record the profiles of quake-hit displaced families housed in tented camps across northern parts of Pakistan.
"This camp registration aims to record their total numbers and their vulnerability. The deduced information will also serve in planning for the early recovery phrase," Indrika Ratwatte, UNHCR's emergency co-ordinator for earthquake relief said in Islamabad.
According to the Federal Relief Commission in the capital Islamabad, altogether some 55 tented-villages/camps have been established, housing over 58,000 quake-affected people in Azad Kashmir. Some 20 tent-schools have also been functioning in the camps, employing nearly 90 teachers and enrolling over 1,100 students.
Likewise, another 23 tent villages have been established in NWFP having a population of over 35,000 quake survivors. Some 20 schools are now being run in the province, enrolling more than 3,000 students and employing almost 100 teachers.
The UN refugee agency is providing material and technical support to the Pakistani authorities and local NGOs in more than 37 planned camps in the area. The agency is now focusing and extending support to about 400 spontaneous camps, groupings of less than 50 tents, scattered across the extended 30,000 sq km quake-region, covering eight districts with three in Azad Kashmir and another five in NWFP.