OCHA Situation Report No. 23
South Asia Earthquake
Pakistan
29 April 2006


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Summary & Statistics

As of 29th April, 63% of the families in IDP camps have returned to 
their places of origin. A major increase took place in Bagh where 86% of 
the families have now returned compared with 29% in the week before. 
This is mainly due to the inclusion in the figures of families living in 
camps adjacent to their homes with tents pitched in their own lands. The 
OCHA office in Batagram has been closed with only the residual caseload 
remaining in two camps. Therefore, Muzaffarabad is the only hub with the 
majority of IDPs still in the camps; however, the Jhelum Valley is now 
open, which should speed up the returns process. For all Hubs, 
transitional sites for residual caseloads have now been identified, some 
of which are pending clarification of administrative and ownership 
issues. Negotiations in this regard with the Government and the 
landowners are ongoing. For Islamabad, the figures of returnees 
collected by IOM are listed below.

|------------+----------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------|
|Hub         |   # of   |# of families|% of families|    # of     |    # of     |    % of    |
|            | families |  before 1   |  returned   | individuals | individuals |individuals |
|            | returned |    March    |             |  returned   |  before 1   |  returned  |
|            |          |             |             |             |    March    |            |
|------------+----------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------|
|Bagh        |       955|        1,107|          86%|        5,076|        5,892|         86%|
|------------+----------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------|
|Batagram    |     3,497|        3,811|          92%|       21,649|       23,688|         91%|
|------------+----------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------|
|Mansehra (1)|     7,096|        8,025|          88%|       39,015|       42,658|         91%|
|------------+----------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------|
|Muzaffarabad|     7,067|       17,143|          43%|       41,107|      120,000|         34%|
|------------+----------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------|
|Total       |    18,615|       30,086|          63%|      106,847|      192,238|         56%|
|------------+----------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------|


|--------------------+------+----------+-----------|
|Islamabad camps (2) | H-11 |Fateh Jang|Rawal Town |
|--------------------+------+----------+-----------|
|# of individuals    | 1520 |   933    |    72     |
|returned            |      |          |           |
|--------------------+------+----------+-----------|


Priorities in the Hubs

Bagh

While the District Government announced last week that Namanpura will be 
the residual caseload camp, the landowners at this site have refused the 
Government's request. Instead, the landowners agreed to extend the stay 
of IDPs until 15th of May at no cost, provided all IDPs will leave by 
the agreed date.

It is not likely that the military authorities will grant clearance for 
the helicopter delivery of assistance to isolated Azad Bara in Nar Sher 
Ali Khan UC, a principal area of return near the LOC.  An assessment 
team is being organized to go by road and trek to the site in order to 
see the conditions for return.  However, Army clearance is required 
before this can be done.

Using the May 15th extension of the stay of IDPs in Namanpura, and in 
the absence of a forward camp, the CMO has negotiated with landowners 
for the same kind of arrangement in the other camps.

CMO is negotiating with the landowner of Mang Bajri planned camp, a 
250-tent contingency camp that was never used, to make it the forward 
camp. The main issues for negotiation are the unpaid land rentals for 
the past six months and the rate to be agreed for the next six months or 
so.

Batagram

With the closure of the OCHA office in Batagram the return activities 
are from now monitored and reported by the OCHA office in Mansehra.

Mansehra

Preparation of transitional sites; Maera, Kashtra and Siran Sialkot is 
still being finalized

Development of an official referral policy and criteria to access 
transitional camps

Handover of camp management responsibilities from the Army to the Civil 
Authorities

A constraints Survey is being developed in order to better understand 
the needs of vulnerable populations in returning or being relocated

Returns from -50 spontaneous camps and host family populations are 
ongoing

Balakot is a high seismic risk zone - relocation of the town is being 
planned, and a site has been located

Closure of the Batagram Office - Mansehra will absorb the area covered 
by this office

Muzaffarabad

Return movement process continues with almost half of the IDPs from 
camps returning to areas of orgin

1, 413 families returned assisted by IOM & CMO in reporting week

Despite the agreement not to distribute any items in the camps CMO 
allowed distribution of some items of hygiene kits, and asked agencies 
to think about summerisation facilities in camps.

Roads in Jhelum Valley are now open for movements.

Notes

(1) For Mansehra camps with less than 50 tents are not included.

(2) According to the Pakistani Government the initial number of IDPs in 
Islamabad/Rawalpindi was 35,000 to 50,000.


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