OCHA Situation Report No. 44
South Asia - Earthquake
Pakistan
19 May 2006


On 16 and 17 May respectively, the ERRA / UN Early Recovery Plan was 
successfully launched in New York and Geneva by the UN Resident and 
Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. Jan Vandemoortele, and the Chief of Staff/ 
Deputy Chairman of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation 
Authority (ERRA), Brig. Waqar Iqbal Raja. The launch event in Islamabad 
will be held on 22 May.

The modified Clusters have assumed their roles as Working Groups in the 
Hubs, except for the Protection Cluster, which shall continue to work in 
its same capacity until 31 July.

For better coordination purposes, ERRA has nominated District 
Reconstruction Units (DRUs) as focal points at the field level. In the 
absence of a government coordination capacity, the Pakistan Army has 
been asked to provide secretarial support.

The priorities of humanitarian operations are: (i) identification of 
camps for residual caseload and monitoring IDP returns; (ii) provision 
of essential services in places of origin and residual camps; (iv) 
mitigation of unbearable heat conditions in tents and; (v) carrying out 
the return barrier survey.

SITUATION OVERVIEW:

Security

The general security situation in the field-based Hubs remained stable.

IDP Returns Process

As of 13 May, 76% of the families in IDP camps have returned to their 
places of origin, compared to 63% one week before. The increase was 
mainly due to amendments in return figures of Muzaffarabad. Moreover, 
Camp Management Organisation (CMO) has completed an exercise verifying 
all those who returned 'spontaneously' i.e. without assisted transport. 
The total figures now include these spontaneous returns.

Key priorities remained the identification and finalisation of 
agreements with landowners and the preparation and summarisation of 
transitional sites. For Muzaffarabad, seven camps have been identified: 
Interloop, Dawn, Thuri Park, Mera Tanolia, Malik Pura, Piro Ka Bagh, 
Tariq Abad.

The CMO in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PAK) will announce this week 
whether the inhabitants of 18 villages - as opposed to 17 reported 
earlier - located in areas susceptible to seismic activity will be moved 
to camps in Muzaffarabad. According to the latest estimations, this 
would bring the total caseload of IDPs in Muzaffarabad to approximately 
90,000. There would therefore be a need for additional non-food items 
(NFIs) as well as for food. However, storage for NFIs in Muzaffarabad is 
already limited.

In Muzaffarabad, the number of IDPs is likely to reach 90,000. The 
breakdown is as follows: residual caseload in IDP camps = 30,000; 
relocated communities from 18 villages = 50,000; and urban displaced 
from Muzaffarabad town = 10,000.

In Bagh, the deadline of 15th May given by landowners to vacate one of 
the camps has expired whereas negotiations on the designation of a 
residual camp are still ongoing.

In Mansehra, IOM is currently assisting the return of around 250 
families per day from camps of under 50 families. This number can be 
broken down as follows: 100 families from Mansehra, 50 families from 
Balakot and 100 families from Bara Koh in Islamabad. All are moving to 
Kaghan Valley.

ERRA / UN Early Recovery Plan

The ERRA/ UN Early Recovery Plan was launched in New York and Geneva on 
16 and 17 May 2006 respectively. It shall be launched on 22 May in 
Islamabad.

The Economic Affairs Division approved the ERRA/ UN Early Recovery Plan 
on 13 May. UN Agencies are asked to provide ERRA with a five-page 
summary of each submitted project by 31 May. The five-page project 
summary intends to facilitate the NOC (Non Objection Certificate) 
process.

Phasing Out of OCHA

OCHA Bagh closed down on 19 May follow seven months of providing 
coordination services to the Humanitarian Hub in Bagh. The National 
Humanitarian Affairs Officer seconded to the Deputy Commissioner's (DC) 
office will provide: a) coordination support to the DC's office; b) 
follow-up on contingency planning requirements; c) training of local 
staff on essential information management functions; and d) necessary 
support to ensure that the District Information Centre (DIC) is fully 
operational.

Cluster Closure

In line with the transition from relief to recovery, all Clusters with 
the exception of the Protection Cluster are either being modified into 
Working Groups or entirely closed. The Protection Cluster is expected to 
continue in its current form until 31 July. The newly established 
Working Groups will closely cooperate with ERRA, line ministries and 
other government entities during the recovery phase.

Disaster Preparedness

In Bagh, a Disaster Preparedness Workshop was conducted on 17 May, which 
was attended by the Deputy Commissioner (DC), the OCHA Head of Office, 
FSU head and 28 participants from various government line departments, 
NGOs and UN Agencies. This will be replicated in Muzaffarabad and 
Mansehra.

WORKING GROUP UPDATE

CAMP MANAGEMENT

1. In Muzaffarabad, the issue of 'summarisation' of the tents in the 
camps is still pending. Since early May, Camp Management Organisation 
(CMO) has been requested to provide support for this.

2. In Bagh, OCHA has joined UNHCR in negotiating with Mang Bajri 
landowners. In a meeting with OCHA, the landowners expressed their 
concern on rental dues. They showed readiness to negotiate with the 
Government if the rental dues for the past six months were settled. CMO 
is reportedly ready to pay the dues.

SHELTER

3. IOM has expanded rubble removal operations.

4. IOM Muzaffarabad has concluded its distribution of 825 pairs of 
children's shoes.

WATER AND SANITATION

5. The Working Group is in the process of mapping the interventions for 
which commitments have been made by different organisations. 
Furthermore, there is lack of clarity on the process of obtaining NOCs 
for planned water supply schemes in rehabilitation and construction 
projects.

HEALTH

6. WHO is currently defining its transition strategy, focusing on 
sustainable implementation of health activities and ways to streamline 
the post-earthquake health achievements into regular programmes and 
policies of ERRA and Ministry of Health.

7. Extensive training programmes for Women Medical Officers, Lady Health 
Visitors, Female Medical Technicians on emergency obstetric and new born 
care will be initiated next week in collaboration with UNICEF and UNFPA. 
Until October, training workshops of 5 days each will be conducted every 
month.

8. More outbreak investigations are conducted with water quality 
testing.

9. Incinerators have been distributed to health facilities for the 
improvement of solid waste management. Additional incinerators were 
requested by the District Officer of Health in Mansehra.

FOOD

8. WFP has two types of programmes:

a) 'Food-for-work' (already started in Allai and Jared, Kaghan Valley)

b) 'Food-for-training' (instead of paying incentives for a training 
session, food would be given).

EDUCATION

9. Out of the total 1,952 primary schools in Mansehra / Batagram, 1,186 
have been covered by UNICEF by providing tents and other items. 
Remaining schools will be covered by implementing partners. The process 
may take two months.

10. UNICEF is also supporting the Education Department by providing 
2,500 tents for middle and high schools. 772 tents have already been 
delivered.

11. The schools are facing drinking water supply problems. UNICEF will 
be covering the water supply and latrine construction needs of 503 
schools.

12. The Department of Education Extension (DEE) teachers training 
programme has completed training of Master trainers.

PROTECTION

13. The Terms of Reference of the existing Cluster have been revised 
accordingly to reflect the activities planned for upcoming phase.

14. Muzaffarabad Protection Cluster has prepared and forwarded to 
Islamabad a paper on protection needs covering the relocation, situation 
in the camps / residual caseload and areas of origin.

15. Monitoring in problematic camps has been carried out by 
international and national staff from UNICEF, UNHCR and OCHA from 12 to 
15 May to avoid forced relocations by landowners of IDPs in camps.

16. Nineteen child protection committees in Bagh and Thub were 
established and trainings on child protection will be planned.

17. The payment of the 2nd compensation has started. 2,000 families have 
received compensation. The survey is planned to end mid-June. 42,840 
houses have been surveyed and forms sent to NADRA. 4,415 forms have been 
disputed as they are incomplete.

LOGISTICS

18. With the closure of the UNHAS mission on 31st May, the UNJLC Cargo 
Movement Coordination Cell (CMCC) will also close. 4 UNHAS helicopter 
remain behind.

19. UNJLC and HIC have developed a QuakeZone MapKit, which can be used 
to create maps with collected data and to build on existing spatial 
data.

20. Matters related to logistics will continue to be discussed bi-weekly 
in the Logistics Forum.

21. Regional Contingency Planning is underway and will take into account 
the reaction of the terrain in monsoon flooding.

WEATHER AND ACCESSIBILTY

22. Weather is getting hotter by the day and there have been reports of 
sporadic rains in few areas causing concern for landslides.

23. All roads are open except for the route to Kaghan Valley. The 
majority of secondary roads are open as well. Many tertiary roads, which 
are important for reaching settlements, remain blocked.

GENERAL INFORMATION

24. All detailed cluster information (meeting minutes, assessments, 
contact information etc.) is being posted on www.un.org.pk .

25. The latest information on projects and funding for the Flash Appeal, 
and for the emergency overall, can be found on the Financial Tracking 
Service 
(http://ocha.unog.ch/fts/reports/reportlist.asp?section=CE&record_ID=688). 
Further information on earthquake appeals and funding is available on 
ReliefWeb 
(http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc105?OpenForm&rc=3&emid=EQ-2005-000174-PAK).


26. Contact details of focal points for information on in-kind and cash 
contributions can be found at http://www.un.org.pk/earthquake05/ .

27. OCHA will revert with further information as it becomes available. 
This situation report, together with further information on ongoing 
emergencies, is also available on the OCHA Internet Website at 
http://www.reliefweb.int.

28. Regular news on Pakistan is available from IRIN via the website 
www.IRINnews.org and direct e-mail subscription. Agencies wishing to 
contribute news article suggestions, press releases and reports with 
IRIN should send them to the IRIN Asia office: IRINasia@IRINnews.org, 
Tel +90-312 454 1177.

Tel:  +41-22-917 12 34
Fax: +41-22-917 00 23
E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10

Desk Officers:
  Ms. Rebecca Richards, direct Tel. +41-22-917-3183
  Mr. Christophe Schmachtel, direct Tel. +41-22-917-1751

Press contact:
  GVA - Ms. Elizabeth Byrs, direct Tel. +41-22-917-2653
  NYC - Ms. Stephanie Bunker, direct Tel. +1-917-367-5126

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