"The European Commission has adopted a 25 million euro (30 million dollar) humanitarian aid decision to provide further relief assistance to victims of the South Asia earthquake," the EC said in a statement here.

This raises the amount of humanitarian aid provided by the EC to 58.3 million dollars, it said.

It has also pledged a further 60 million dollars for rehabilitation and long-term reconstruction in the affected areas, bringing its total aid package to 118.4 million dollars, the statement said.

International donors and aid agencies are racing against the winter to rush aid to survivors facing a bitter Himalayan winter after the October 8 earthquake which killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistan and 1,300 in India.

"The situation is grim for people living in the areas affected by the earthquake," Louis Michel, European commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, said.

"The effects of the winter weather are increasingly being felt and it is essential that the international community step up its efforts to relieve the suffering," Michel said in the statement.

"With the onset of the winter, the Commission is very concerned that a secondary humanitarian disaster may occur if people remained stranded in mountainous areas unable to gain access to assistance," the statement said.

The latest EU aid package will help pay for emergency supplies such as blankets, tents, water and fuel as well as health care and sanitation.

Pakistan has received aid pledges of more than six billion dollars, of which two billion dollars is in the form of grants.

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