IRIN
PAKISTAN: United Nations quake zone camp closing
13 September 2006


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

MUZAFFARABAD, 13 September (IRIN) - The United Nations camp in 
quake-affected Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, 
and a key staging ground for one of the largest international 
humanitarian responses ever, will close at the end of September.

"The official closure date is 30 September," Shafqatullah Cheema, the 
UN's Area Coordinator for Muzaffarabad, confirmed on Tuesday, 
emphasising, however, that the closure did not mean the world body was 
reducing its presence on the ground.

"Quite the opposite actually. We [the UN] are not winding down our 
activities. Those will continue without a break," Cheema stressed. "We 
are merely shifting our place of work to area buildings which will allow 
us to work better."

More than 75,000 people were killed and some 3.5 million people rendered 
homeless in the 8 October quake, which ripped through 
Pakistani-administered Kashmir and the country's rugged North West 
Frontier Province (NWFP).

In the disaster's immediate aftermath - the worst in Pakistan's 59-year 
history - the camp, established on a school playground, quickly assumed 
a pivotal role in providing emergency relief assistance to thousands of 
quake survivors throughout the region.

"People were initially sitting around on stools with their laptops and 
the camp developed from there," Cheema recalled, noting the camp's 
initial construction had been made to house the influx of international 
staff coming from outside.

"As Muzaffarabad was devastated, there weren't many safe buildings 
people could live in," he explained, citing the thousands of aftershocks 
and tremors that rattled the area weeks after the 7.6 magnitude quake 
struck.

Set up within days of the disaster by the Swedish Rescue Services Agency 
(SRSA) and initially financed by the Swedish government, SRSA continues 
to maintain responsibility for the overall day-to-day operations of the 
camp.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), which shares a key role in 
the camp's management, more than 200 international and local staff 
members lived and worked in the tented community at the height of its 
operations, with national staff members returning to their own homes in 
the area after about six months.

Currently some 19 international staff members are living at the camp, 
with another 76 local staff working with them.

Overseeing UN activities in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, the 
Muzaffarabad camp was one of five such camps established in the quake 
region. UN operations in NWFP are conducted from the city of Mansehra, 
which continues to run largely out of buildings.

Once home to a number of UN agencies - including the United Nations 
Children's Fund (UNICEF), the WFP, the World Health Organization (WHO) 
and the office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees 
(UNHCR) - many of the agencies in the camp will now relocate to 
buildings within Muzaffarabad.

"We are in step with the rest of the recovery and reconstruction in the 
area and this move is part of that process. While before we worked from 
a tent, now we will work from a building," Cheema underlined, adding: 
"The work continues."

Originally scheduled to close in April, the camp's closure was later 
extended to June, before finally being rescheduled again for the end of 
September, less than two weeks before the first anniversary of the quake 
- a disaster that continues to affect the lives of millions of people in 
the area and where recovery and rebuilding is expected to take years.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International             web: www.cidi.org
    Disaster Information         listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
                               guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
South Asia Earthquake               www.cidi.org/incident/sasia-05j