Annan, accompanied by his wife, will be in Pakistan for three days starting Thursday, the United Nations Information Centre said in a statement.

He is also scheduled to hold talks with President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri on quake relief efforts before attending the donors' conference on Saturday.

The October 8 earthquake of 7.6 magnitude killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir, seriously injured nearly 70,000 people and made about three million homeless.

Annan is expected to visit one of the camps set up for the homeless in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, that had been devastated by the quake.

"The current priority of the United Nations and other humanitarian organisations is to reduce the risk of thousands more deaths from cold, disease and hunger," the statement said.

Immediately after the earthquake Annan rushed his Humanitarian Coordinator, Jan Egeland, to Pakistan to assess the situation.

The UN chief also attended a ministerial-level conference in Geneva on October 26 during which a revised "flash appeal" for nearly 550 million dollars for six months was presented.

So far the UN has only received 119 million dollars of this as well as 40 million dollars in pledges.

Musharraf Tuesday appealed to the world to contribute generously to help his country rebuild.

Pakistan needed "generous assistance" both in cash and kind, Musharraf said ahead of Saturday's conference, expected to be attended by the heads of major financial institutions and aid agencies.

Officials estimate that it will take more than five billion dollars and five to 10 years to restore shattered infrastructure.

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