ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The world pledged a whopping $3.4 billion US in new quake aid for Pakistan at a make-or-break donor conference yesterday, but aid groups warned that much of the promises were loans that will heap more debt on the impoverished country.

Pakistan nonetheless hailed the conference as a success, with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf thanking the nearly 80 attending countries and international agencies for "helping Pakistan in this hour of need." He said the gesture "will never be forgotten."

In Canada, Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis announced that Canada has contributed another $500,000 in aid for Pakistan. The donation includes $250,000 raised by the Canadian public, which was matched by the government.

The money will go to the International Development and Relief Foundation to supply things like emergency shelter kits, kitchen sets, cooking stoves, kerosene and candles for some 12,000 people.

Acute respiratory illnesses are on the rise among the three million people displaced by the 7.6-magnitude quake on Oct. 8, and there have been outbreaks of diarrhea, scabies, tetanus and other diseases.

"Praise be to God that the first step in this campaign has been a success," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said of the donors conference. "We are very satisfied."

Aid groups said that meant the pledges were a mixed bag. Jane Cocking, humanitarian co-ordinator in Pakistan for Oxfam, said the new debt would be detrimental in the long term to those suffering from the quake.

"Oxfam fears that today's pledges will prove to be short-term solutions for the long-term needs," Cocking said. "The international community risks heaping even more misery on survivors by increasing the debt burden of Pakistan through reconstruction loans."

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