The aid package includes 200 million dollars in quick disbursing credits, 130 million dollars in additional credit financing for so-called community infrastructure and a 100 million dollar loan for highway reconstruction.

The move came ahead of a meeting of donor nations in the Swiss city of Geneva on Wednesday amid criticism that the world community was not doing enough to help Islamabad cope with the October 8 earthquake, which flattened much of Pakistan-governed Kashmir and left more than 53,000 people dead.

Some 70,000 people in Pakistan were injured and more than 800,000 left without shelter after the 7.6 magnitude earthquake leveled towns and isolated villages in northern part of the country.

"The scale of this disaster is really unimaginable and the problems that the survivors are facing in worsening weather conditions are frightening," World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said in a statement on the aid package.

"We are most encouraged by the resoluteness of the governments response and very eager to do what we can to help," he said.

Wolfowitz said the aid package was "a big step, but sadly, just a first step as everyone would have to do much more.

"We felt that it was important to give the government the confidence to address the immediate needs and as we develop a better idea of the medium-term needs we will work on that as well," he added.

The Pakistani government welcomed the aid package, with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz saying in a statement, "The speed and scale of this commitment is exactly what Pakistan needs right now."

"We do welcome this from the international community because it is this sort of support that is going to make all the difference," Aziz was quoted saying.

The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and a multi-donor team began work in Pakistan this week on a needs assessment that will help the government refine its initial estimates of damage and loss.

The World Bank has also lent its support to a World Wide Web portal designed to share as much as possible information that can be gathered from the 4,000 villages in the affected areas.

The 100 million dollar loan will be channeled to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the highway connecting Muzaffarabad, the epicenter of the earthquake, Kajan Valley and northern areas with the rest of the country.

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