IRIN
PAKISTAN: Flooding forces quake victims to relocate again
18 August 2006


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

MUZAFFARABAD, 18 August (IRIN) - Hundreds of Pakistani families who had 
returned to their homes following last year's massive earthquake have 
been forced to relocate again by flooding.

This year's monsoon season has brought severe flooding to quake-affected 
northern Pakistan, killing at least 200 people since the rains started 
in mid-July.

Water levels have been up to three times higher than last year in some 
places, according to reports. Houses, roads, railways tracks, water 
supplies, sewerage pipes and crops have been destroyed.

It is a devastating blow following the 8 October quake measuring 7.6 on 
the Richter scale that ripped through North West Frontier Province 
(NWFP) and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, killing more than 75,000 
people and leaving 3.5 million homeless.

The flooding forced Roxanna Selferas, 30, a mother-of-three, to take 
refuge in the new Jaba camp outside the NWFP city of Mansehra. More than 
250 families have relocated there since 3 August.

"After the earthquake we lived in our own tent [their house was damaged] 
on our own land in Garhi Habibullah [a town in Mansehra District], but 
two weeks ago everything got washed away by flooding," Roxanna said from 
the camp.

"I heard people screaming and crying at 2am [two weeks ago when her home 
got flooded] and my husband and I started to run. We saved our three 
sons but all our things are gone. One week ago we heard people talking 
about this camp [Jaba] and we came here," she said.

Kushtra camp, a site in Garhi Habibullah that sheltered 100 families, 
was flooded two weeks ago, with 63 of the families moving to Jaba camp.

"We came 10 days ago to Jaba [camp]," said Baghgimo Gomo, a 60-year-old 
widow who lived at Kushtra with her 14 family members following the 
quake.

"We have been relocated so many times because of landslides and 
flooding. The first four months after the earthquake we lived in Kushtra 
camp. Then we moved back to our village, Durgha. But the government said 
that it was prone to landslides and we moved back to the camp [Kushtra] 
again. Now we are here at Jaba camp," she said.

Her son, Fazil Rehman, who moved to Jaba with his wife and two children, 
said life had proved hard after being relocated. However, he felt safer 
in the new camp, which was located in an area owned by the Agriculture 
University and not prone to flooding or landslides.

"This area is better for my family but it is tiring to move all the 
time. I'm waiting for the government to decide if and when my village 
[Durgha] is safe again so I can go back," the 35-year-old said.

Asghar Ali Shah, Jaba camp's manager, said more than 180 families had 
been relocated there. They came from places like Dender, Garlot, Sucha 
and Banda in NWFP, which had all been classified 'red zones' - meaning 
they were prone to landslides and flooding.

The camp could take 500 families but the number of people being 
relocated there was increasing, Shah said.

It has also been reported that the former Khubaib Foundation camp in 
Muzaffarabad, provincial capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, 
would reopen next week because flooding had forced many former residents 
to return.

After the earthquake the camp housed 217 families but on 22 July the 
government decided to close it and relocate the residents.

"The government made a decision to reopen this camp and we started to 
set up everything on 5 August. At the moment we are sure that at least 
104 orphans and widows must be brought back here due to the rains," Lt 
Col Yousaf Jan, the foundation's project manager, said.

"They cannot live on the land where they were relocated to so they 
currently live in different camps waiting for this one to open," Jan 
stated.

The government's Camp Management Organisation (CMO) had also relocated 
more than 270 families from potentially vulnerable areas in Muzaffarabad 
Province to safer housing.

The CMO, in cooperation with the International Organization of Migration 
(IOM), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the office of the United 
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), provided transport and 
tents to people.

The CMO warned that the number of families needing relocation could 
increase if the monsoon continued. It had identified three sites in the 
Muzaffarabad area that could accommodate 200-250 families.


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