With support lagging, but the need more urgent than ever, relief organizers in the aftermath of the massive Oct. 8 earthquake in Pakistan are pressing for more help.

Perhaps due to the hangover of the tsunami in southeast Asia and Hurricane Katrina, relief funds for Pakistan have been small by comparison, said Los Altos resident Paru Desai Yusuf. Yusuf is trying to raise awareness of the issue locally.

“The situation is getting grimmer by the day,” she said. “With winter approaching, temperatures are dropping to near freezing, and weather conditions are making it difficult, if not impossible, to provide aid.”

With 10,000 children in remote earthquake-stricken parts of Pakistan facing possible death within the next few weeks unless helicopters and other vital needs are supplied immediately, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan last week called for an “immediate and exceptional escalation” of the global relief effort.

“A second, massive wave of death will happen if we do not step up our efforts now,” Annan said in calling for 450,000 more winterized tents and temporary shelters and 2 million blankets and sleeping bags.

The quake had killed 42,000 as of last week, injured at least 67,000 others and left some 3 million homeless.

Yusuf pointed to several relief organizations to donate to “that have proven to be very effective on the ground in Pakistan.”

These are: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), www.unicef.org; Oxfam International, www.oxfam.org; Care USA, www.careusa.org; and MercyCorps, www.mercycorps.org.