Annan: Urgent need for $977m
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 The tsunamis are having a devastating impact on the tourism economies of some stricken nations.
 The tsunamis have had a lasting impact on the children who witnessed them.
 Relief efforts in Banda Aceh were stalled when a U.S. cargo aircraft hit cattle on the runway.
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has appealed for $977 million in emergency relief over the next six months for the "unprecedented global catastrophe" triggered by the Asian tsunamis.
In a bid to get aid to millions of people affected by the disaster, Annan told heads of state, relief officials and health experts at the start of the donor conference in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta that the cash was needed immediately.
While nations around the world have pledged more than $3 billion in aid so far, most of that cash isn't in hand to begin the work for the largest humanitarian operation in U.N. history.
"We have started a new year with a singular chance to prove that our humanity is intact and well -- a chance to prove that when calamity strikes, we are equal to the task," Annan told delegates, including U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and Japanese leader Junichiro Koizumi.
Officials say 156,000 people died after a quake off the coast of Indonesia on December 26 triggered killer waves that hit a dozen nations bordering the Indian Ocean.
Tens of thousands of people are still missing, and officials say the death toll may never be known as many people were swept out to sea or buried under mud and rubble.
"It seems at times like a nightmare from which we are still hoping to awake, except that for millions of people in 12 affected countries, spanning two continents, and for tens of thousands of visitors from nations around the world, this nightmare is devastatingly real," Annan said.
More than 500,000 people have been injured, more than one million displaced and more than two million in need of food, Annan said on Thursday.
Annan told delegates that the international community must work "to stop the tsunami from being followed by a second wave of death, from preventable causes."
More people and material are needed in the region to move aid into remote hard-hit areas, he said, urging donor nations who have pledged money for tsunami relief to come forward "quickly" with cash donations, because speed is needed to prevent deaths from disease and starvation.
Indonesia was singled out at the most needy nation in a 95-page document compiled by the U.N.'s humanitarian affairs ahead of Thursday's summit in Jakarta.
The quake was centered off the coast of Indonesia, and so far more than 94,000 people have died in that nation alone.
The conference's host, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has called it "the most destructive disaster in living memory."
The United Nations says almost 40 percent (around $372 million) of the emergency fund should be directed to Indonesia, with nearly half of that going to shelter and other non-food items.
Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar, the Seychelles, Somalia and Sri Lanka have also been singled out for aid.
In addition to raising money, the conference is focusing on coordination of relief efforts, overcoming bottlenecks slowing delivery and looking at the possibility of a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean.
