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17th
October 2005
First UNHCR relief flights and convoys arrive in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, October 17 (UNHCR) – The first of tonnes of tents,
blankets and other relief items for Pakistan's earthquake victims
has arrived from the UN refugee agency's warehouses around the world,
including neighbouring Afghanistan.
On Monday, a convoy of more than 40 trucks was
due to arrive at UNHCR's warehouse in Peshawar in Pakistan's North
West Frontier Province (NWFP) after setting off more than 30 hours
earlier from Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. The trucks are carrying
more than 1,500 tents, 50,000 pieces of plastic sheeting, 20,000
blankets, and 10,000 jerry cans for the victims of the October 8
earthquake.
UNHCR officials in Kabul said the Afghan Government
had been very helpful in authorizing the release of the relief supplies
and in facilitating their transport to Pakistan. The World Food
Programme had provided most of the trucks for the relief convoy,
with some additional ones hired commercially.
Over the weekend, the first UNHCR relief flight
touched down at Islamabad airport with 357 rolls of large plastic
sheeting from the agency's warehouse in Copenhagen. More flights
were expected later Monday and over the next few days from Jordan,
Dubai and Turkey.
In all, these first shipments of UNHCR relief
items from abroad will include more than 15,000 tents, nearly 70,000
plastic sheets, 220,000 blankets, over 30,000 jerry cans and 15,000
kitchen sets.
They will supplement existing stocks in Pakistan,
where UNHCR has almost emptied its warehouses. Some 2,400 tents
and thousands of blankets, plastic sheets and other items have already
been sent to the affected population around Mansehra, about three
hours' drive from Islamabad.
"Winter is closing in and temperatures in
some affected areas are already below zero. If they don't get tents
and blankets immediately, these people will die," said UNHCR's
Representative in Pakistan, Guenet Guebre Christos. "We're
doing whatever we can to bring aid to the people and if necessary,
to bring people to the aid."
Under the UN-coordinated response, UNHCR is leading
efforts on camp management in the event of mass displacement after
the earthquake. Non-governmental partners in this group include
Oxfam, Concern, Focus and the American Refugee Committee.
"We're stressing to the international community
that we have to help people in remote and difficult areas, so that
they are not forced to leave their villages in search of assistance,"
stressed UNHCR's Michael Zwack, who heads the camp management group.
"We have to assist them where they are. If everyone leaves
his or her home area, the mass displacement could complicate relief
efforts and possibly create a man-made crisis."
At the same time, he added, "Our staff in
Mansehra, Balakot, Batagram, Shangla and Muzafarabad are identifying
areas where homeless people have gathered spontaneously. We need
to organise them so that they can receive basic assistance like
water and sanitation in a coordinated way."
Technical specialists have also been deployed
in response to the Pakistan government's request for UNHCR and its
partners to set up temporary camps for homeless, vulnerable people
in areas like Balakot, Batagram and Muzafarabad.
"Our teams are on the ground with the government
and military to identify suitable sites for temporary camps,"
said Zwack, noting that basic criteria like physical safety, easy
road access, water availability and security must be met. He added
that the camps would exist for three to six months, giving people
some time to recover and rebuild their damaged homes next spring.
A total of 4 million people have been affected
by the earthquake, including 1 million in dire need of assistance
and more than 2 million homeless. So far, the UN has only received
pledges of some US$56 million out of the US$312 million it needs
to help earthquake victims over the next six months.
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