OCHA Situation Report
South Asia: Earthquake
29 November 2005


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Bottlenecks:
Weather

Cargo movement by helicopter was not possible on Sunday and severely 
limited on Monday due to bad weather. Transport using trucks and mules 
was continued.

Road Transport

Several roads are becoming less accessible. The road from Islamabad to 
Bagh has been reported today as 'difficult' and deteriorating. The road 
from Bagh to Kahutta via Lasdana across the mountains was blocked by a 
WFP truck and snow; the alternate route to Kahutta via Rawalakot was 
passable but slow (6 hours and likely 9 hours for trucks).

Developments:

Population movement

Further significant downward migration from the highland areas is not 
expected. Village assessments point out that affected populations will 
remain near their place of origin as long as sufficient shelter and 
supplies of food and wood are available. The military is, however, 
advising people to come down from the mountains.

Contingency planning for possible mass-migration under the aegis of OCHA 
will be finalized for ratification by Cluster Coordinators on the 7th of 
December.

Location of camps

An emergency task force under the leadership of the GoP is to be 
convened concerning scattered/spontaneous camps. Tasks of the emergency 
task force are to map out scattered/spontaneous camps (which is almost 
completed), to identify which are sustainable and to make immediate 
recommendations to the government on which need to be closed or 
consolidated. For the camps that are sustainable, tasks are to conduct a 
rapid needs assessment, draw up an implementation plan and to assign 
responsibility for actions.

NATO air bridge

The air bridge consists of two parts; one using military aircraft and 
one using chartered aircraft. The military part has been completed. A 
total of 1,943 MT of international aid and 521 MT of national aid have 
been transported. The civilian part of the air bridge using chartered 
aircraft has not finished. Flights are planned up to and including the 
3rd of December. Hereafter, NATO remains prepared to consider further 
requests provided funding can be made available.

Operation 'Winter Race'

Despite suspended helicopter flights due to the bad weather in the past 
few days, IOM indicates that operation 'Winter Race' is still on target 
to deliver 10,000 winterized shelters to the population living between 
5,000 and 7,000 ft. by the 12th of December.

Fuel

The fuel farm in Abbotabad has reached initial operational capacity (50 
m3 fuel) on 28th of November.

UNHAS

UNHAS currently has enough funding to continue the operation of its 
current air assets (13 Mi-8, 2 Mi-26) until the beginning of February.

Possible future bottlenecks:

Weather

More rain and snow is expected over high mountains (above 7,000 ft.) on 
Wednesday. Dry and cold weather is expected for Thursday and Friday. 
Night temperatures are close to freezing point in the high villages.

This Logistics Bottlenecks report is a joint product of UNJLC and OCHA. 
For queries or comments please contact Ingrid van Beuzekom ( 
ingridvanbeuzekom@hotmail.com). Sources used are: contact with UNJLC 
staff, ReliefWeb, minutes from cluster meetings, Pakistan Meteorological 
Department, Emergency Shelter Cluster sitrep, press briefings.


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