UNHCR head expresses solidarity with quake victims

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on Friday expressed solidarity with the government and people of Pakistan in dealing with the aftermath of the 8 October quake which ripped through the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, killing at least 80,000 people and rendering over 3 million homeless. "All our resources and capacities are at your disposal," said Antonio Guterres in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, addressing a press conference. He also said Pakistan had shown great solidarity with the suffering people of Afghanistan. "The people of Pakistan and the government of Pakistan have expressed their solidarity for decades with millions of Afghan refugees. And solidarity is not a one-way thing. Solidarity must be a two-way thing," he added. "So, for us, as a refugee agency, the problems faced by the people of Pakistan, are our problems," Guterres maintained. Under the joint UN response to Pakistan's devastating earthquake, UNHCR is the lead agency for camp management, supporting the Pakistani government in the running of emergency camps, by providing material and technical assistance and coordinating the delivery of basic services like health care, water, sanitation and education. Around 20 government-run emergency settlements including 11 in Mansehra district of NWFP house some 15,000 displaced quake-victims, while another nine settlements are home to over 9,000 in the Muzaffarabad district of Pakistani-administered Kashmir. But the UN agency is currently only 50 percent funded till the end of November for the huge relief operation in Pakistan's quake-affected areas. "To set up some 30 camps for a potential 150,000 people, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] needs around US $18 million by the end of this month, but we have received only $9.6 million in pledges," Vivian Tan, a UNHCR spokeswoman, said in Islamabad.