Britain pledges £15m in quake aid

The first British charity aid will go to Sri Lanka and Indonesia

The UK government is to give at least £15m to help the victims of the Asian earthquake which is thought to have killed nearly 60,000 people.

International Development Secretary Hilary Benn said this made the UK the second biggest donor after the US and added more would be given if required.

"It's about the practical steps to get help where it's needed," he told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.

The Tories have said there is no excuse for delaying Britain's aid effort.

What we need to see is a massive explosion of political will across the world Alan Duncan Shadow international development secretary

Party leader Michael Howard said: "The earlier aid can get to these regions the more effective it will be."

He has also urged the Chancellor Gordon Brown to place cash in the bank accounts of non-governmental organisations.

This would enable them to charter planes without any delay, he argued.

Shadow international development secretary Alan Duncan said the £15m pledge was better than the £1m the government had promised on Tuesday.

This was what his party had been calling for, he said, but he also warned, that no amount of money would ever be enough.

"What we need to see is a massive explosion of political will across the world."

'Good record'

But Mr Benn defended the government's relief effort saying: "We are very generous contributors to humanitarian crises around the world, the UK, we have a long tradition

"We have an extremely good record. The money that we commit is the money that we deliver. If we promise something we do it."

The government sent its first plane-load of aid on 27 December, and another containing fresh drinking water is set to fly out of Manchester to the Maldives on Wednesday.

Mr Benn said Britain had just completed the purchase of 20,000 tarpaulins, 4,500 cooking sets, 40,000 sleeping mats, 5,000 water cans as well as 10 World Health Organisation health kits which provide basic supplies for 100,000 people for three months.

UK HELPLINES 0207 008 0000 - for information on friends and relatives 0870 6060290 - for flight details or travel advice 'Eight of my family are dead' Sri Lankan ex-pats offer help

Meanwhile Britain's aid agencies under the umbrella of The Disasters Emergency Committee are stepping up their efforts to get aid to the quake-hit areas.

More than £1m is already believed to have been raised by British charities, but they are aiming to generate millions more.

The number of British people who have been confirmed dead has risen to 18. Twelve deaths were in Thailand, three in Sri Lanka and three in the Maldives.

But the British death toll will rise, with hundreds of foreign tourists still accounted for in resorts on the Thai coast alone.

The Foreign Office has set up an emergency helpline - 020 7008 0000 - for people worried about missing relatives.

This line has come under fire, with relatives saying they have been unable to get through, or have been put on hold for minutes on end and then cut off.

An extra 2,200 lines were installed on Tuesday. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has been visiting the call centre in Hendon, north London, on Wednesday.