IRIN
PAKISTAN: Environmental concerns in quake-hit region
21 December 2005


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

ISLAMABAD, 21 December (IRIN) - Environmental activists have expressed 
grave concern over widespread pollution as a result of poor sanitation, 
inadequate solid waste management practices, degradation of forests and 
continuous landslides across parts of quake-devastated northern 
Pakistan.

"The disposal of solid waste management should be accorded the highest 
priority since it's not only giving way to serious health risks, but 
also polluting the environment in several other ways," says an alert 
bulletin jointly released by the World Conservation Union, otherwise 
known as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and 
Natural Resources (IUCN), the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the 
US-based international developmental agency, CARE on Wednesday.

The bulletin enlists a range of emerging and prevailing environmental 
issues, putting more pressure on already depleting natural resources in 
the region.

Over 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.

"The need for shelter and fuel for hundreds of thousands of affected 
people are endangering the very existence of the already dwindling 
forests in the region, ultimately further reducing the livelihoods 
options for the local people," said the environmental bulletin.

The agencies have also called for restricting the use of the timber 
stocks for local needs only and immediately checking the reported 
transportation of timber outside the earthquake-affected areas for more 
profitable marketing.

In NWFP and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, there are over 500 emergency 
camps housing some 187,506 people, however, of the total only 30 
settlements were planned, according to the report by the UN Office of 
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Alone the Muzaffarabad district of Pakistani-administered Kashmir has 
some 34 emergency/transitional settlements sheltering around 50,000 
quake survivors, according to the office of the UN High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR), of which only four were planned, with the rest having 
been established spontaneously as people sought assistance immediately 
after the quake, without proper sanitation and waste management 
services.

Meanwhile, landslides caused by the earthquake have temporarily 
obstructed several water channels in the region. In a couple of 
locations in Muzaffarabad massive landslides have blocked the course of 
rivers creating two lakes across two valleys. "The up and downstream 
communities of this blockage are threatened by the situation, 
particularly if it rains heavily," the leaflet said.

Deposition of massive volumes of silt and sediments after the landslides 
fell into the rivers flowing through the affected region may further 
significantly increase the risk of silting of water reservoirs, warned 
the bulletin by environmental agencies.

Of Pakistan's three main dams, the already silted Mangla Dam is located 
along the River Jehlum running through Pakistani-administered Kashmir to 
Pakistan and the ongoing landslides may speed up the silting process 
further - reducing the life and capacity of this reservoir, the agencies 
noted.


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