IRIN
PAKISTAN: Improving weather facilitating quake relief
13 February 2006


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

ISLAMABAD, 13 February (IRIN) - Improving weather in northern Pakistan 
is facilitating the international earthquake humanitarian operation, 
relief officials said on Monday in the capital, Islamabad.

"[The] situation in quake relief camps is stabilising amid unseasonably 
warm temperatures. Additionally, as spring looks set to arrive early, 
the issue of return is increasingly on people's minds," Vivian Tan, a 
spokeswoman for the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR), said.

More than 80,000 people were killed and another 3.5 million were 
rendered homeless when a 7.6 magnitude earthquake ripped through parts 
of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and 
Pakistani-administered Kashmir, just weeks before the start of the harsh 
Himalayan winter in early October last year.

More than four months later, over 2 million quake survivors are still 
living in flimsy tents across an extended area of about 28,000 sq km, 
being kept alive by international and national assistance until at least 
the spring - when they may have a chance of rebuilding their shattered 
lives and homes.

Despite the optimism about returning early to devastated villages to 
begin the long process of rebuilding, UNHCR said it was still committed 
to assistance in relief camps.

"However, together with partner agencies, we are continuously working to 
improve living conditions in camps by building communal kitchens and 
latrines and bettering water supply. While our community services and 
mobilisation teams are encouraging parents to send their children to 
camp schools," Tan added.

As lead agency for camp management in the quake zone, the UN refugee 
agency has been supporting Pakistani authorities in about 150 quake 
relief camps housing more than 145,000 survivors, out of a total of over 
600 settlements across the quake-affected area.

Under UNHCR's winterisation campaign, more than 18,000 stoves, 480,000 
blankets, 92,000 plastic sheets and 36,000 mattresses have been 
distributed among quake survivors in the last four months.

Unusually warm temperatures have meant that in the lower Allai Valley of 
NWFP, some people from an informal camp at Meira have already returned 
to their homes. "Several others at the camp who regularly visit their 
villages say there is a need for more shelters, infrastructure and jobs 
in the valley [where their homes are]," said Tan.

Together with partners like the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and 
Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief (REDR), UNHCR has been holding 
workshops on camp management to build the capacity of local authorities 
and NGOs to facilitate returnees.


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