From Our Correspondent
Geneva. July 5
International action in emergency situations must measure up to the resources and technical capabilities of modern society, U Thant, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, said today in a message read to the opening session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Recent disasters had revealed “a growing sense of frustration in an international community anxious to help and a sense, too, that international efforts at times of such catastrophes fall considerably short of the needs” he said. These concerns had been intensified acutely by the influx of East Pakistan refugees into India.

The council might think, he said, that the circumstances even demanded an upward revision of the proposals set out in his report on disaster assistance, which, in essence, are for better coordination of existing facilities, whether United Nations, Red Cross or governmental, through the medium of a small United Nations office in either New York or Geneva.

It is proposed that this should function in close cooperation with the League of Red Cross Societies in Geneva, which already maintains seven regional relief supply centres. Another main supply
source would be the Copenhagen warehouse of the United Nations Children's Fund, which normally contains some £2m worth of medical supplies and food for mothers and children.

U Thant’s report also said that the existing United Nations radio network, perhaps the most efficient single element in the United Nations system, stretching from Asia through Africa and Europe to North America, should he augmented in emergencies by portable installations from a reserve which could be maintained by the International Telecommunication Union, another United Nations agency.

Voluntary bodies, such as the Save the Children Fund, would continue to have a full role. In emphasizing the importance of effective action in the first 24 hours after a disaster, the report said that so far many governments—including some in the disaster-prone areas—had paid insufficient attention to advance planning.

Pointing out that last year no less than £85,000m had been spent on armaments, the equivalent of a whole year's income of ail the developing countries put together. U Thant said he wondered how long “people and events will stand by and allow the world to proceed unchallenged on this road.”