When I spoke in this very same room on 11 January at the Tsunami Ministerial donors meeting, I could not have imagined that there would be a need to address natural disasters issues at this level again in the same year.
The fact is, however, that we are here again, with similar human misery to address and with similar points about the consequences of disasters for the most vulnerable people. We express our deepest sympathy to all the people affected by the South Asia earthquake we are addressing today.
The position of our Federation and its worldwide network of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is clear from our own revised appeal for 152 million Swiss Francs. The appeal is available here today.
The IFRC and its participating National Societies are mainly working just outside the epicentre of the earthquake. Our main concentrations extend from the immediate to the longer term needs of the population, complementing the protection and care which is so ably provided by our colleagues from the ICRC.
One of the essential humanitarian actions involves the provision of adequate shelter, at all stages of an emergency and especially now in Pakistan.
I mention this because we have been offered a role in providing cluster leadership for the UN family with respect to emergency shelter in general.
This underlines the urgency for us as for other agencies and humanitarian bodies in building fresh and sustainable relationships with all stakeholders, including donors.
For us this means that the donor relationship extends to governments as well as our own members. It is also demonstrated by the strength of the support we receive every day, and in every disaster situation, from the public.
So, we join Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland and all our partners in the hope that you will also motivate others in your own countries to support our work in Pakistan and other humanitarian emergencies.
We must do this through a new approach to the links between governments, the public, the corporate sector and the humanitarian community.
This is the only way to address urgency of the scale which confronts us now. This is why we have worked closely with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society to mobilise a massive relief operation supported so far by 25 Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and their donors - to whom we extend special thanks for their support.
They are working alongside and in support of hundreds of dedicated members and volunteers of the Pakistan Red Crescent. Our President is in Pakistan now to support the operations, and I will be there myself next week.