The United Nations said on Tuesday that it had secured

The United Nations said on Tuesday that it had secured concrete aid of US$717 million toward its emergency relief appeal for the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, and urged donor countries to speed up delivery of further aid promises.

Jan Egeland, the UN humanitarian relief coordinator, said it was the first time the world body had collected so much money in such a short space of time after a disaster.

It comes to 73 percent of a 977-million-dollar UN appeal launched last week to meet immediate needs in the next six months of regions stricken by the devastating Dec. 26 tsunamis.

"This has never ever happened before, that we, two weeks after a disaster, have $717 million that we can spend on an emergency relief effort," he told reporters at the close of a donors' conference here.

When the meeting started hours earlier, he had warned that only $300 million had been committed and more cash contributions had to be made far more swiftly.

Egeland said he was confident that the appeal for six months would soon be met in full. Of the $717 million, 250 million alone is from Japan.