Funding shortfall hampers humanitarian response

Inadequate funding continues to hamper humanitarian efforts in quake-hit regions of northern Pakistan, where night temperatures in some places above 1,500 metres have already dropped below freezing. The UN Flash Appeal funding for winter relief operations is facing a critical shortfall of some US $250 million, with only $180 million received or committed to date, officials say. "It’s one of those crises where the shortfall is so great that one cannot pinpoint one or two areas requiring additional assistance. Every area of support could be improved by additional funding, including winterising more tents, building more emergency shelters and having more doctors on the ground,” Andrew Macleod, chief of the UN’s relief operation, said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad on Tuesday. "The lack of funds is hampering everything, but also threatening, for example, our logistics lifeline, which needs some $13 million per month. So far, we are funded until around mid-December, however, if more funds don’t get in then there will be no flights in January and February. Given the particular nature of this operation, if logistics stops, everything will stop," he warned. At least 80,000 people were killed and more than 100,000 injured after the powerful quake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale ripped through Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Pakistani-administered Kashmir on 8 October. Over 3.5 million people were rendered homeless by the disaster, which destroyed around 203,000 dwellings and left another 197,000 housing units uninhabitable, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). But despite the sheer magnitude of the quake, efforts to assist those affected are moving ahead. "The Pakistani military is doing a great job. Its complementary role has reduced initially anticipated funding requirements, as reflected in the Flash Appeal, by around $100 million," Macleod said. A vast percentage of the relief effort has been funded by the Pakistani government with its own money, stocks and bilateral funding, as well as the use of civilian military assets in areas of logistics, food, shelter and health. Nonetheless, many humanitarian programmes continue to face serious shortfalls in what has been described as a "race against time." To enable the aptly named ‘Operation Winter Race’ to reach its full potential within the next two weeks before severe weather sets in, further supplies of at least 10,000 shelter kits and staffing are needed, while winterisation of distributed tents in high altitude valleys like the Allai Valley is now a priority, according to the UN emergency coordination centre in Islamabad. Meanwhile, food and nutrition needs for survivors are becoming more serious, with funding constraints preventing aid workers from responding adequately to supplement local efforts, resulting in significant food gaps, forced migration, the slaughter of livestock, and the sale of remaining household assets, as well as the early detection of malnutrition and anaemia. According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), of a total of 2.3 million now dependent on food assistance, only 1.4 million were receiving an average 1,600 calories per day of the 2,400 calories required. While some families will be able to rely upon harvests or recovered food stocks for another two months, many will succumb to hunger unless adequate funding is received and the minimum daily food requirement of 2,400 calories (winter ration) can be achieved, said a recent WFP assessment report jointly conducted with the UN’s Children Fund (UNICEF) and the international charity, Oxfam. In terms of health, with current fund levels at 45 percent of what is needed, there can be no response capacity for disease outbreaks and no laboratories, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). More critically, a lack of funding may result in NGOs, who are the sole providers of primary healthcare services in remote and high altitude locations, pulling out exactly at the time when winter draws in and the population becomes more susceptible to disease, health experts warn. Likewise, the financial constraints are hindering efforts of other key players in the provision of water and sanitation services, the protection of vulnerable women and children in emergency settlements, as well as in quake-affected urban and rural areas.