IRIN
PAKISTAN: Afghan quake survivors missing out on aid
6 March 2006


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

MUZAFFARABAD, 6 March (IRIN) - Hundreds of unregistered Afghan migrant 
workers living in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered 
Kashmir, have not received aid since the 8 October earthquake that 
killed over 80,000 people.

"They don't have identity cards so they are not eligible for aid from 
the government," said Sarfraz Ahmed Abbas, coordinator for social 
welfare at the Women's Development Department.

According to Abbas, there may be up to 500 Afghans living in 
Muzaffarabad. "They are not living in camps, but in bad shelters," said 
Abbas.

Hidden behind the leafy lawns of Upper Chattur, Muzaffarabad's 
wealthiest district, over 250 Afghans are living in squalid conditions.

Scavenging among mounds of rubbish, tiny barefoot children in filthy, 
ragged clothes collect torn pieces of material and old plastic shoes. 
The children also hunt for bits of food in the rotting mass of detritus.

Piles of rubbish spill into the small, muddy courtyard that Laal 
Mohammad shares with three other families. The air is thick with the 
smell of raw sewage. There is only a makeshift latrine which is a small 
hole in the ground. Children covered in scabies play in the dirt. There 
are two shabby canvas tents, donated by neighbours, which 25 people must 
share. The rest must sleep outside under a shack with a corrugated iron 
roof.

"We haven't received anything," said Mohammad, who is from Laghman 
province in eastern Afghanistan.

"But we just need shelter and food. When it rains, the water comes in 
the tent," he said.

Mohammad moved to Muzaffarabad eight years ago and came to find work as 
a labourer. He earns up to 300 Rupees [US $5] a day on construction 
sites, but since the earthquake work has been slow.

Mohammad and his family were living in a rented mud house when the quake 
struck. The house was demolished and fleeing its crumbled wreckage, all 
he could find was this small piece of wasteland.

"But now the landowner wants it back. I'm looking for another piece of 
land," Mohammad said.

These Afghan survivors are not entitled to government compensation and 
their children are not going to school. "There are no beds, the children 
don't have clothes and the women and children collect rubbish," said 
Abbas.

Further up the hill, near more piles of refuse that the women and 
children are sifting through, is a small slum. Around pools of stagnant 
water are wood shacks, crumbling mud huts and makeshift tents made out 
of a patchwork of old materials. This is the only shelter they have and 
at night, for warmth, they burn rubbish and bits of plastic.

"There are 252 Afghan refugees residing on our land. Some of them have 
been here for up to 12 years," said Riaz Mohammad, the landowner.

"They pay 1,000 Rupees [$16.68] a month which is a nominal amount for 
the rent of the land," he said.

But with rent to pay, mouths to feed and a husband who is finding it 
increasingly difficult to find work in the difficult post-earthquake 
environment, Zaysagal said she does not have enough food for her 
children.

"We haven't been given anything," smiled Zaysagal.

Zaysagal moved to Muzaffarabad from the Afghan capital Kabul five years 
ago. The rented accommodation her family were staying in collapsed in 
the quake, killing a child of a relative. She now shares a tent with 
nine others and, like the other Afghans who have not received aid, she 
said that food and shelter were her biggest problems.

"These people are the poorest of the poor and they are living in the 
worst conditions," said Abbas.

"They need help."


IRIN-Asia
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Fax: +90 312 495 4166
Email: IrinAsia@IRINnews.org


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