![[Pakistan] Many families in northern Pakistan find themselves back in relief camps following severe floods in the quake zone. [Date picture taken: 08/17/2006]](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20068181.jpg.webp?itok=5vy-BL7_ "Some 250,000 people have become homeless in Balochistan because of cyclonic rains and flooding")
Hundreds of Pakistani families who had returned to their homes following last year’s massive earthquake have been forced to relocate again by flooding.
This year’s monsoon season has brought severe flooding to quake-affected northern Pakistan, killing at least 200 people since the rains started in mid-July.
Water levels have been up to three times higher than last year in some places, according to reports. Houses, roads, railways tracks, water supplies, sewerage pipes and crops have been destroyed.
It is a devastating blow following the 8 October quake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale that ripped through North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, killing more than 75,000 people and leaving 3.5 million homeless.
The flooding forced Roxanna Selferas, 30, a mother-of-three, to take refuge in the new Jaba camp outside the NWFP city of Mansehra. More than 250 families have relocated there since 3 August.
“After the earthquake we lived in our own tent [their house was damaged] on our own land in Garhi Habibullah [a town in Mansehra District], but two weeks ago everything got washed away by flooding,” Roxanna said from the camp.
“I heard people screaming and crying at 2am [two weeks ago when her home got flooded] and my husband and I started to run. We saved our three sons but all our things are gone. One week ago we heard people talking about this camp [Jaba] and we came here,” she said.
Kushtra camp, a site in Garhi Habibullah that sheltered 100 families, was flooded two weeks ago, with 63 of the families moving to Jaba camp.
“We came 10 days ago to Jaba [camp],” said Baghgimo Gomo, a 60-year-old widow who lived at Kushtra with her 14 family members following the quake.
“We have been relocated so many times because of landslides and flooding. The first four months after the earthquake we lived in Kushtra camp. Then we moved back to our village, Durgha. But the government said that it was prone to landslides and we moved back to the camp [Kushtra] again. Now we are here at Jaba camp,” she said.
Her son, Fazil Rehman, who moved to Jaba with his wife and two children, said life had proved hard after being relocated. However, he felt safer in the new camp, which was located in an area owned by the Agriculture University and not prone to flooding or landslides.
“This area is better for my family but it is tiring to move all the time. I’m waiting for the government to decide if and when my village [Durgha] is safe again so I can go back,” the 35-year-old said.
Asghar Ali Shah, Jaba camp’s manager, said more than 180 families had been relocated there. They came from places like Dender, Garlot, Sucha and Banda in NWFP, which had all been classified ‘red zones’ - meaning they were prone to landslides and flooding.
The camp could take 500 families but the number of people being relocated there was increasing, Shah said.
It has also been reported that the former Khubaib Foundation camp in Muzaffarabad, provincial capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, would reopen next week because flooding had forced many former residents to return.
After the earthquake the camp housed 217 families but on 22 July the government decided to close it and relocate the residents.
“The government made a decision to reopen this camp and we started to set up everything on 5 August. At the moment we are sure that at least 104 orphans and widows must be brought back here due to the rains,“ Lt Col Yousaf Jan, the foundation’s project manager, said.
“They cannot live on the land where they were relocated to so they currently live in different camps waiting for this one to open,” Jan stated.
The government’s Camp Management Organisation (CMO) had also relocated more than 270 families from potentially vulnerable areas in Muzaffarabad Province to safer housing.
The CMO, in cooperation with the International Organization of Migration (IOM), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), provided transport and tents to people.
The CMO warned that the number of families needing relocation could increase if the monsoon continued. It had identified three sites in the Muzaffarabad area that could accommodate 200-250 families.
AJ/GS/SC
This year’s monsoon season has brought severe flooding to quake-affected northern Pakistan, killing at least 200 people since the rains started in mid-July.
Water levels have been up to three times higher than last year in some places, according to reports. Houses, roads, railways tracks, water supplies, sewerage pipes and crops have been destroyed.
It is a devastating blow following the 8 October quake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale that ripped through North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, killing more than 75,000 people and leaving 3.5 million homeless.
The flooding forced Roxanna Selferas, 30, a mother-of-three, to take refuge in the new Jaba camp outside the NWFP city of Mansehra. More than 250 families have relocated there since 3 August.
“After the earthquake we lived in our own tent [their house was damaged] on our own land in Garhi Habibullah [a town in Mansehra District], but two weeks ago everything got washed away by flooding,” Roxanna said from the camp.
“I heard people screaming and crying at 2am [two weeks ago when her home got flooded] and my husband and I started to run. We saved our three sons but all our things are gone. One week ago we heard people talking about this camp [Jaba] and we came here,” she said.
Kushtra camp, a site in Garhi Habibullah that sheltered 100 families, was flooded two weeks ago, with 63 of the families moving to Jaba camp.
“We came 10 days ago to Jaba [camp],” said Baghgimo Gomo, a 60-year-old widow who lived at Kushtra with her 14 family members following the quake.
“We have been relocated so many times because of landslides and flooding. The first four months after the earthquake we lived in Kushtra camp. Then we moved back to our village, Durgha. But the government said that it was prone to landslides and we moved back to the camp [Kushtra] again. Now we are here at Jaba camp,” she said.
Her son, Fazil Rehman, who moved to Jaba with his wife and two children, said life had proved hard after being relocated. However, he felt safer in the new camp, which was located in an area owned by the Agriculture University and not prone to flooding or landslides.
“This area is better for my family but it is tiring to move all the time. I’m waiting for the government to decide if and when my village [Durgha] is safe again so I can go back,” the 35-year-old said.
Asghar Ali Shah, Jaba camp’s manager, said more than 180 families had been relocated there. They came from places like Dender, Garlot, Sucha and Banda in NWFP, which had all been classified ‘red zones’ - meaning they were prone to landslides and flooding.
The camp could take 500 families but the number of people being relocated there was increasing, Shah said.
It has also been reported that the former Khubaib Foundation camp in Muzaffarabad, provincial capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, would reopen next week because flooding had forced many former residents to return.
After the earthquake the camp housed 217 families but on 22 July the government decided to close it and relocate the residents.
“The government made a decision to reopen this camp and we started to set up everything on 5 August. At the moment we are sure that at least 104 orphans and widows must be brought back here due to the rains,“ Lt Col Yousaf Jan, the foundation’s project manager, said.
“They cannot live on the land where they were relocated to so they currently live in different camps waiting for this one to open,” Jan stated.
The government’s Camp Management Organisation (CMO) had also relocated more than 270 families from potentially vulnerable areas in Muzaffarabad Province to safer housing.
The CMO, in cooperation with the International Organization of Migration (IOM), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), provided transport and tents to people.
The CMO warned that the number of families needing relocation could increase if the monsoon continued. It had identified three sites in the Muzaffarabad area that could accommodate 200-250 families.
AJ/GS/SC
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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