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U.S. steps up Pakistan quake aidFrom CNN Producer Syed Mohsin Naqvi
 Pakistan is now entering the reconstruction and rehabilitation phase, President Musharraf says. SPECIAL REPORTYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- At a potential donors' conference attended by dozens of nations and agencies in Islamabad, where Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf sought more than $2.5 billion for victims of South Asia's massive earthquake, the head of the U.S. delegation said the United States is increasing its pledge to $510 million for relief and reconstruction. The previous pledge was $156 million. The new pledge includes $300 million in cash, $100 million in private donations and $110 million in military-supplied relief, said Andrew S. Natsios, USAID administrator. "President Bush has asked five of the United States' most prominent corporate chief executive officers to lead a private fundraising effort for the newly-created South Asia Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction Fund," Natsios said at the conference. "I am confident that they will reach the $100 million goal they have set for their efforts." Twenty-four U.S. helicopters, two emergency field hospitals, an engineering unit and 1,200 U.S. soldiers are involved in relief operations in the area affected by the quake, he said. More than 73,000 people in Pakistan died in the 7.6-magnitude quake on Oct. 8, according to Pakistani authorities. India blamed it for another 1,200 deaths in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Numerous survivors are homeless and bracing for a bitterly cold, snowy Himalayan winter. Early this week, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank reported that the quake would cost Pakistan about $5.2 billion -- more than twice the amount pledged so far for relief and reconstruction. The agencies' report said nations and institutions around the world have pledged assistance totaling nearly $2.5 billion. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is to attend the inaugural session and address attendees. He has chided nations for their weak financial response. "When so many people are affected, none of us should be indifferent," he told reporters. He asked nations to contribute "generously and willingly." Represented at the donors' meeting was 50 countries, 19 international agencies and banks and corporations. About 25 countries were represented at ministerial and deputy ministerial levels. Annan and Musharraf on Friday visited a tent village filled with survivors in the Pakistani-administered section of Kashmir. Annan plans to remain in Pakistan for three days. "We will continue to support you," Annan told the victims. Annan and the president, and their wives, also visited a rehabilitation center in Hattian, about 40 miles from Islamabad, established by the Ministry of Social Welfare to help quake survivors. Annan said the amount of money sought by Pakistan "is not very much, considering the magnitude of the task. Seeing it and realizing that house after house has been destroyed, people have had to be moved into tents and some are still up in the mountains with the winter approaching, it is a really tragic and urgent situation and the scale is gigantic." Annan added, however, that he was "impressed by the level of cooperation and determination." 
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