Ottawa has pledged an additional $20 million to aid victims of the devastating earthquake in southern Asia, International Co-operation Minister Aileen Carroll said Wednesday.

"Half of this will go to the South Asia earthquake matching fund; the remaining will go to the two appeals we have now received, one from the United Nations and one from the Red Cross movement," said Carroll.

The announcement brings Ottawa's total donation to disaster relief to $57 million, said Carroll.

International Co-operation Minister Aileen Carroll, Wednesday.
International Co-operation Minister Aileen Carroll, Wednesday.

The Oct. 8 earthquake resulted in the death of tens of thousands of people, mostly in the disputed region of Kashmir in northern Pakistan.

Midnight Wednesday night was the deadline for the federal government to match personal donations from Canadians.

"We encourage, most sincerely, that Canadians donate generously in these last few hours," said Carroll, adding that she expected Canadians would donate at least $15 million by the deadline's end.

John Watson, president and CEO of CARE Canada,.
John Watson, president and CEO of CARE Canada,.

Wednesday's announcement comes in addition to an earlier $20 million announced by Ottawa. The remaining $17 million is the estimated cost of sending Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team, or DART, to Pakistan.

The pledge comes as delegates from donor nations gather in Geneva for an emergency summit on how to fund immediate relief efforts in a part of the world where as many as 79,000 people are dead, 65,000 are injured and 3.3 million are homeless.

Despite frantic warnings from aid groups and the United Nations that many more people will die if aid doesn't arrive soon, the UN's appeal for $367 million has garnered less than 30 per cent of that amount.

Winterized tents are in especially high demand, with 800,000 people thought to still be without any shelter.

"Even a big helicopter can bring in only 50 [tents] at a time and we need tens of thousands," John Watson, president and CEO of CARE Canada, told CBC News.

Just over a month remains before winter snows cut off aid delivery routes into remote mountain villages where survivors have no shelter or food. The routes won't be passable again for nearly six months.

In the longer term, rebuilding villages and towns that the quake levelled will cost almost $6 billion, Pakistan has estimated.