UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) – The U.N. humanitarian  chief has chided aid agencies working in Haiti for poor  coordination and resourcing, which he said weakened confidence  in their ability to deliver, according to a leaked email.

The official, John Holmes, called on the agencies to take a  more aggressive approach to helping Haiti following its  devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.

Holmes confirmed to Reuters yesterday that the email,  written after he returned last weekend from a trip to Haiti and  first published on the website of the journal Foreign Policy,  was genuine and had not been intended to be made public.

The United Nations later yesterday launched a revised  “flash” — or emergency — appeal for Haiti that took the total  sum it is seeking to over US$1.4 billion.

Holmes said his critical email was addressed to the main  U.N. and other agencies working on relief for survivors of the  Haiti quake, which killed more than 200,000 people and left  more than 1 million homeless.

U.N. relief operations in Haiti were hard hit from the  outset when the world body’s mission chief and more than 90  other staff there were killed in the quake. U.N. officials have  since said that steady progress is being made.

But Holmes said that while much had been achieved, there  remained “major unmet humanitarian needs,” particularly on  shelter and sanitation, which with the rainy season approaching  could give rise to “large demonstrations.”

“I fear we have simply not yet injected the necessary  resources in some areas in terms of capacity to implement  practical programs and deliver on the ground,” said Holmes, a  Briton who heads the U.N. Office for the Coordination of  Humanitarian Affairs.

“I ask you all to take a fresh hard look at what you are  able to do in the key areas, and pursue a much more aggressive  approach to meeting the needs.”

Holmes focused on the system of “clusters,” first devised  after the 2004 Asian tsunami, whereby relief needs are divided  into key sectors, each headed by a single organization, usually  a U.N. agency. There are 12 such clusters in Haiti.

He said he was disappointed that little progress had been  made on coordinating the various aid groups within each  cluster, and that cluster chiefs “continue to struggle without  the capacity required.”

“Several clusters have yet to establish a concise overview  of needs and develop coherent response plans, strategies and  gap analyses,” he said. “This is beginning to show and is  leading others to doubt our ability to deliver.”

“We cannot … wait for the next emergency for these  lessons to be learned,” Holmes said. “There is an urgent need  to boost significantly capacity on the ground, to improve  coordination, strategic planning and provision of aid.”

At a news conference after the launch of the new appeal,  Holmes said, however, that the notion that the United Nations  was failing “was not the message.”  He added: “What I was  trying to say is there’s still a huge amount to do.”

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told diplomats at the  launch that with more than $600 million pledged for a previous  appeal three days after the quake, the amount required to reach  the new target was $768 million.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy  for Haiti, said the extra money was needed “because there are  still too many Haitians living from day to day.”

“You can’t build a country back when a third of its  population is worried about day-to-day,” he said. “There is not  enough money in the pipeline right now … to get them through  this year.”