IRIN
PAKISTAN: Quake-affected Allai Valley receives livestock support
23 February 2006


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

ISLAMABAD, 23 February (IRIN) - The international NGO Save the Children, 
with financial support from the United States Agency for International 
Development (USAID), has begun a livestock support project at the Mehra 
relief camp in the quake-ravaged Allai Valley in Pakistan's North West 
Frontier Province (NWFP).

"Some Allai residents moved to the Mehra camp with their surviving 
livestock, without much fodder, shelter and veterinary services. These 
[survivors] could stand to lose their hard earned assets to the elements 
and disease or be forced to sell at reduced rates," Erica Ahmed, a 
spokeswoman for Save the Children said from Allai in the Battagram 
district of NWFP on Tuesday.

According to USAID, the project aims to assist quake survivors protect 
their remaining livestock, replenish feed and rebuild barns after the 
devastating 8 October earthquake which killed more than 80,000 people 
and injured over 100,000. Livelihoods were crashed in the region and 
almost 4 million people were rendered homeless, just weeks before the 
start of the harsh Himalayan winter.

While the quake caused extensive damage to public and private 
infrastructure in quake-affected NWFP and Pakistani-administered 
Kashmir, the direct and indirect losses to crops, livestock and 
irrigation infrastructure total to more than US $440 million, according 
to an assessment of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization 
(FAO).

"To help these farming communities resume their economic activities as 
soon as possible, quick impact activities have to be started at once to 
clear cultivated areas, restock animals, restore land productivity and 
rebuild livestock shelters and grain storage," FAO emergency operations 
service chief Fernanda Guerrieri said, releasing the findings of an FAO 
assessment in November.

"In the worst-affected areas, nearly all the livestock were lost. 
Depletion of livestock continues as abandoned animals die, and others 
are sold or slaughtered in anticipation of the harsh winter, or due to 
lack of fodder and shelter. Feed and fodder stocks have been either 
buried under debris or damaged by the heavy rains that followed the 
earthquake," noted the FAO assessment.

For the people of the Allai Valley in Battagram district, numerous 
families lost much of their livestock after the quake. For those 
families whose animals did survive, housing and feeding presented a big 
challenge. Much of the livestock feed was buried under the rubble of 
fallen barns or rotted in damp conditions. The result was that some 
quake victims brought their animals to tent camps where they were 
temporarily relocating.

Through the USAID-funded cash-for-work project with international 
charity Save the Children as implementing partner, a barn for 200 
animals is being built at Mehra Camp in Allai where men from the camp 
would also receive money to maintain, feed and guard the animals living 
in the barn. The animals would also provide milk to supplement the 
nutrition of the families, living in the camp.

Washington, through USAID, is providing more than $1.5 billion in 
development assistance to Islamabad over the next five years to improve 
education, health, governance and economic growth. In addition, a total 
of $510 million has been pledged in earthquake relief and reconstruction 
efforts.


IRIN-Asia
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Email: IrinAsia@IRINnews.org


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