UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The World Bank has pledgedto allocate 250 million US dollars for relief efforts after the devastating tidal waves hit southern Asia and eastern Africa, the United Nations said on Thursday.

    UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said the fund was announced by World Bank President James Wolfensohn in a phone conversation with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan earlier in the day.

    Eckhard said the sum brought to 500 million dollars in pledged aid for countries to cope with the unprecedented tsunami disaster.

    Annan was giving a press conference after meeting at the UN headquarters in New York with ambassadors from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Somalia, Sri Lanka andThailand, the nations struck by the tsunami.

    Before the meeting, Annan also spoke at a video conference withUS Secretary of State Colin Powell and senior diplomats from Australia, India and Japan, members of the so-called "core group" established by Washington in response to the tsunami disaster. Enditem