Evacuation of quake victims nears completion

The evacuation of those affected by last week's moderate earthquake in northern Pakistan is nearing completion. In one of the most difficult and largest relief operations undertaken by Pakistani army helicopters, over 2,000 people were rescued and moved to safer locations.

"The evacuation is practically completed," Jehangir Khan, the government joint secretary responsible for the northern areas, told IRIN on Monday in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. "Air evacuation has been terminated and relief goods initially sent in are now being distributed."

According to the most recent figures, eleven people were killed and some 40 injured after a series of three moderate earthquakes, ranging from 4.7 to 5.0 on the Richter scale struck the area between 2 and 3 November. Four villages, including Muthat, Tato, Raikot and Jail, as well as a number of smaller hamlets along a 20 km stretch of mountainous terrain, were impacted. Hundreds of homes were completely destroyed, while others were left uninhabitable.

Over the past week, approximately 2,000 of those affected were airlifted out of the remote mountainous area, south of the northern town of Gilgit, while another 400 who wished to remain in the area were being provided with tents and other forms of assistance. "Many of these people did not want to leave their property and livestock unattended," Khan explained.

His comments follow a government statement on Friday, saying a relief camp had been set up for those affected by the quake near Jaglot, about 50 km south of Gilgit. Located in an area known as Gunar Farms, according to Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the camp had been established in collaboration with civil administration authorities, where food, shelter, clothing and medicines were being provided.

Khan said the tented camp was nearing completion and that two NGOs, including Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and Pak ZDP, a Peshawar-based group, had expressed interest in organising hygiene facilities there.

"We still don't know how many people will be staying in the camp," he said, adding some of those affected were not staying in the camp, opting to stay with relatives or in secondary homes in the area instead.

Meanwhile, Islamic Relief (IR), in collaboration with Oxfam, Save the Children UK, and Catholic Relief Services, completed a three-day needs assessment of the Gunar Farm area this weekend, where some 200 families have been temporarily relocated. An additional camp at Dharan, near Jaglot, has also been set up accommodating 20 to 25 families.

The UK-based NGO maintained that the earthquake that struck the Diamer district - one of five districts of Northern Pakistan - had devastated the existing fragile social and support system of the Mathot and Tato valleys, comprising of 12 villages.

"The civil and military administration are looking after the camp, providing families with tents and food rations for seven days," Shafeeq-ur-Rehman, an IR programme officer dealing with emergency response told IRIN. He noted that as the people would most probably stay until April, food, winter clothing, plastic flooring sheeting and stoves for both heating and cooking were still needed. Although water availability was not a serious concern at the moment, storage of water was, he said, adding hygiene was an immediate need. "These people have nothing in hand," he explained.

While praising the government's quick response to the disaster, he cautioned more was still needed on the ground.

"At the moment, conditions do not appear bad, however, after time and given the lack of proper sanitation facilities and drainage, conditions will surely worsen," he warned, adding space at Gunar Farms was not sufficient and the 200 tents that had been erected were inadequate and placed too close together.

"The average size of the families is between eight and 10 people," he explained, while the standard tent size accommodates five. Moreover, with temperatures set to drop below zero in the coming weeks, winterised tents were urgently needed, he added.

Emphasising the need for greater preparedness, the NGO's programme manager, Asif Ali Sherazai added given the area's susceptibility to earthquakes, any reconstruction efforts must keep this in mind.

"Resettlement to their original areas of origin at the moment does not appear feasible as many of the people - particularly the elders, who remember earlier quakes - are not willing to go back," Sherazai said.

"Given reoccurring tremors in the affected area, it is logistically impossible to do anything there at the moment. Our focus will be in the camps for the next six months," he explained, adding any reconstruction and rebuilding would need long term commitment from both the government and humanitarian community.