IOM’s radio emergency hotline getting popular

In a bid to support thousands of quake survivors during the bad winter weather, the International Organization of Migration (IOM) has deployed about 10 Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) to Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, to respond to the emergency assistance hotline established at a local FM radio. “The service is getting very popular and close to 1,200 help requests – mainly for more warm clothing, replacement of wet blankets, re-erection of collapsed tents and problems relating to drainage of rainwater - have been served since the system was put in place on Saturday night when the heavy rain started,” Salim Rehmat, an IOM spokesman, said in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Wednesday. A powerful earthquake of 7.6 magnitudes ripped through parts of Pakistani-administered Kashmir and North West Frontier Province (NWFP) on 8 October, killing more than 80,00 people and rendering another over 3.5 million homeless just weeks before the start of the harsh Himalayan winter. Three months on, almost 2 million quake survivors were still living in tents below the snowline, according to the UN, with about 250,000 in organised camps, while another 400,000 were living in temporary shelters constructed at higher altitude. The onset of harsh winter conditions over the past few weeks in earthquake-affected areas of northern Pakistan has badly hampered aid distribution and is adding to the misery of tens of thousands of survivors in the region. Some 100 volunteers have been enlisted under RRTs to answer the round-the-clock announcements of urgent assistance on local FM radio Power 99. The IOM RRTs have also assisted the Municipal Water and Sanitation Department of quake-ravaged Muzaffarabad by providing 500 tarpaulins, generators, suction pumps, motors and pipes to drain rainwater from spontaneous and unplanned tent settlements. Meanwhile, UN helicopters on Wednesday resumed vital relief flights to quake-hit parts of northern Pakistan after being suspended for three days due to heavy rain and snow. "The weather was a bit foggy early this morning in Muzaffarabad but after 13:00 [local time] helicopters started flying there as well. So, now aerial operations are back to normal after a three-day halt and helicopters are flying to all quake-hit destinations,” UN relief operation spokesman Ben Malor said in Islamabad.