IRIN
PAKISTAN: Survivors outside official quake camps need winterised tents
14 December 2004


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United 
Nations]

MUZAFFARABAD, 14 December (IRIN) - More than two months after the 
devastating earthquake that hit northern Pakistan and 
Pakistan-administered Kashmir, thousands of survivors still live in 
non-winterised shelters, as night-time temperatures drop below zero, 
even in low-lying areas.

"Our tent is not suitable for the weather we have now. It is really cold 
at night and we wrap ourselves in three blankets to keep warm," said 
Hussain, 45, from Charwaya village by Muzaffarabad, the capital of 
Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Many others in the 'spontaneous' camps 
don't have blankets at all.

On both sides of the road approaching Muzaffarabad from the capital, 
Islamabad, there are tents pitched close to flattened or semi-collapsed 
houses scattered on the hills. But most of them are not suitable for 
winter and do not protect people living in them from bitter cold at 
nights, local residents say.

More than 80,000 people were killed and more than 100,000 injured after 
the powerful quake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale ripped through 
Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and 
Pakistani-administered Kashmir on 8 October. In addition, over 3.5 
million people were rendered homeless across the region. An estimated 
2.5 million people are living in tents below 1,500 metres, while there 
are still 350,000 to 400,000 people remaining at risk in higher areas.

"We have just been to see the doctor, my daughter has caught a cold 
because our tent cannot protect us from cold at nights," Tariq Rasheed, 
a father of five living at an emergency camp in Muzaffarabad, said.

"We need good tents for winter: the ones we are living in now are not 
good. We also need blankets," Muhammad Mattab Nizami, head of the local 
Hazret Bilal Welfare Association (HBWA), which runs the camp, said, 
adding that in some tents there were up to three families, or a dozen 
people cramped into a small space.

There are around 200 tents in the camp, hosting roughly the same number 
of families, who mainly came from affected outlying villages in the 
area. "We are seven people in a tent and have only a couple of 
blankets," another camp resident maintained.

The concerns of the camp residents coincided with the results of a new 
survey jointly conducted by United Nations agencies, the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM), the Pakistani government and NGOs, 
presented by UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Pakistan, Jan Vandemoortele, 
in Islamabad, on Tuesday.

"As the coverage of households above 5,000 ft [1,500 m] snowline is 
nearing completion across the earthquake-affected areas, the focus is 
shifting towards people accommodated in tents outside planned shelter 
below the snowline," Vandemoortele said. Of some 3,000 households living 
outside planned camps below the snowline that were covered by the 
survey, almost 75 percent are living in inadequate shelters.

An average of 7.5 people are living in each tent, with each family 
possessing on average only two blankets and two quilts, according to the 
survey, which painted a difficult winter scenario for the survivors.

Although the survey is only a small sample - representing less than 2 
percent of an estimated 230,000 survivors outside planned camps - it 
urges a massive effort to provide the affected population with 
winterised shelter.

The statement by the UN also said that about 2.4 million winter-quality 
blankets or 1.2 million quilts were urgently needed, with some US $31 
million urgently required to purchase, transport and distribute them. 
Sufficient quantities will not be available through local procurement 
alone, the report added.


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