World leaders stepped up efforts to help earthquake-battered Pakistan today by sending more rescue teams, deploying helicopters and pledging further aid as the death toll topped more than 20,000.
"We know that every hour counts in an earthquake of this magnitude," UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland said as rescue workers battled frantically to find and pull survivors of Saturday's quake from the rubble.
An eight-member UN team had begun overseeing the relief effort in the hardest hit areas, said a spokeswoman for the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Teams from Turkey, China, Britain and Germany were on the ground.
The greatest need after the devastation wreaked by the 7.6 magnitude quake was for field hospitals, water purification and blankets, the spokeswoman said. "The logistical problems will be big. We are going to need more helicopters for example."
President Bush telephoned Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, whom he counts as a key ally in the US-led war against terrorism, to offer US helicopters and emergency aid and funding.
Australia, Japan, Russia, The Netherlands and Saudi Arabia were among others dispatching help, as the official death toll in Pakistan jumped in the past 24 hours from less than 2,000 to more than 20,000.
The quake, South Asia's strongest for 100 years, also killed more than 550 people in India.