Humanitarian agencies struggle to reach quake-affected communities

Over five weeks on, aid agencies on the ground are still struggling to meet the basic needs of shelter, water and sanitation to millions of quake victims in northern Pakistan. The 8 October earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale killed more than 86,000 people in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and injured over 100,000, rendering some 3 million people homeless. "The whole affected population of roughly 3 million needs to be reached on an ongoing basis," Andrew Macleod, head of the UN relief operations said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Wednesday, noting the varying needs faced by the affected population. "They tend to differ with place to place. There are some areas where the main need is sanitation, some areas need shelter, while for others it's food, like in Allai Valley and Neelum Valley,” he explained. Those words underscore the mammoth logistical task aid agencies on the ground now face, determining what goes where and to whom. "A lot of people, for example nearly 2 million, need food support but they will all need it on an ongoing basis to get through the winter months. It’s not the case of reaching someone with a sack of flour. We need to sustain it for the whole winter season,” Macleod maintained. On Saturday, a donors’ conference in Pakistan convened by the government is to be attended by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, as well as the heads of major financial institutions and aid agencies. The event is being organised to bolster financial assistance for reconstruction efforts for the earthquake-devastated region spread over some 30,000 sq km in the north of the country. “We certainly need funds coming in for reconstruction and recovery. However, this should not turn the donors’ focus away from relief operations," Macleod warned. Already the UN’s emergency communication lifeline maintained by the World Food Programme (WFP) was under threat by an urgent funding requirement of US $1 million. “If our radio network fitted in vehicles travelling in remote areas goes down, we are putting our whole operation at risk,” the UN relief operations chief maintained. As of Wednesday, three British Chinook helicopters have been added to the fleet of relief crafts to boost up the relief operation for six days and will fly up to 200 to 300 mt of supplies a day. So far, the combined airlift of WFP, with 13 MI-8 and two MI-26 helicopters, has been moving between 70 to 100 mt of relief aid including food and non-food items every day. Meanwhile, colder conditions are now gripping the quake-hit valleys with night temperatures dropping below freezing at high altitude locations, according to Pakistan’s meteorological department.