IOM offers free transport to quake returnees

In order to facilitate speedy returns, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is offering free transport home to nearly 300,000 survivors of the 8 October earthquake currently living in government-run temporary relief camps across northern Pakistan. “It’s a huge task. Each family would need several trucks to take their tents and what remains of their personal belongings and it may take months to finish,” Hassan Adbel Moneim Mostafa, IOM’s regional representative said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Monday. Initially starting with 150 trucks and jeeps, the IOM intends to expand the programme as more survivors choose to return to where they lived before the quake. “We hope that an informed returns process will encourage more people to go back home faster and help them restart their lives,” Mostafa added. More than 80,000 people were killed and another 3.5 million rendered homeless after a massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake ripped through the region, just weeks before the start of the harsh Himalayan winter, creating one of the most challenging humanitarian operations ever. Over 2 million quake survivors were left with no option but to live in flimsy tents in officially organised relief camps or crude shelters patched together from ruined homes. According to the IOM, nearly 300,000 displaced people are currently living in officially organised relief settlements across quake-affected areas of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. In accordance with the international principles of voluntary, safe and dignified return or resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs), the IOM also intends to support the government and other partners in activities such as information campaigns, “go-and-see visits”, medical screening, transportation and reintegration projects. These activities will take place in areas of displacement, en route, as well as in areas of return, the IOM said in a statement.