![[Pakistan] Most people are expected to live in makeshift shelters such as this one during the winter in quake-affected areas of northern Pakistan. [Date picture taken: 09/14/2006]](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20069145.jpg.webp?itok=tb30XAha "Most people are expected to live in makeshift shelters such as this one during the winter in quake-affected areas of northern Pakistan.")
More than 12 months after the massive 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northern Pakistan, humanitarian workers have called for assistance to protect thousands of quake survivors in remote rural parts of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) against the forthcoming Himalayan winter.
“Our assessment suggests that at least 56,000 people in Kaghan and Allai valleys [in NWFP] need to have more winterised shelters and an upgrade of their existing facilities,” Kirsten Zaat, a spokeswoman for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), an international relief agency, said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Monday.
“It adds up to a need of some 8,000 shelters required to meet the humanitarian needs of these rural communities in NWFP,” she added.
The Norwegian aid agency has called on the relevant authorities to engage in local contingency planning, instead of coming up with a centralised policy, considering the vast quake-hit region.
More than 75,000 people died and another 3.5 million were rendered homeless, when the devastating earthquake ripped through parts of northern Pakistan on 8 October.
Private housing suffered the most extensive damage in the quake. Some 600,000 rural and 30,000 urban houses were affected across mountainous terrain stretching 30,000 sq km.
Nearly 2 million quake survivors were forced to live in tents and makeshift shelters through last winter, battling the harsh weather.
Currently, around 35,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) continue to live in tented camps both in NWFP and Pakistani-administered Kashmir (PAK). The plan is to upgrade and winterise the tents in these settlements.
“There is also concern about access to people living in remote locations above 5,000 feet (1,500 m) and along the lower valleys,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement on Sunday.
Meanwhile, UN contingency planning for the upcoming winter in the earthquake zone is under way, for which the organisation has been seeking an additional US $45 million. So far about two-thirds of that sum has been made available, according to OCHA.
“[The] winter operation includes upgrading and replacing the tents in the quake-survivors’ camps, provision of transitional shelters to the rural mountainous population, strengthening healthcare programmes across the quake zone and pre-positioning food and non-food stocks at higher altitudes,” Raabya Amjad, a spokeswoman at the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office (UNORC) said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Sunday.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is preparing to pre-position food at higher altitudes ahead of winter, which is expected to be harsher this year.
“We would try to reduce migrations [from higher altitudes] that are forced upon people due to lack of subsistence or any means of acquiring food. One of the ways to do that is by pre-positioning food at elevations over 3,000 feet [900 m],” Michael Jones, WFP’s country director said in Islamabad.
WFP has been running a two-year earthquake relief programme costing some $68 million. It has provided some 113,638 mt of food to 989,500 beneficiaries in the districts of Bagh, Neelum and Muzaffarabad in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, and in Manshera, Batagram, Shangla and Kohistan in NWFP.
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“Our assessment suggests that at least 56,000 people in Kaghan and Allai valleys [in NWFP] need to have more winterised shelters and an upgrade of their existing facilities,” Kirsten Zaat, a spokeswoman for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), an international relief agency, said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Monday.
“It adds up to a need of some 8,000 shelters required to meet the humanitarian needs of these rural communities in NWFP,” she added.
The Norwegian aid agency has called on the relevant authorities to engage in local contingency planning, instead of coming up with a centralised policy, considering the vast quake-hit region.
More than 75,000 people died and another 3.5 million were rendered homeless, when the devastating earthquake ripped through parts of northern Pakistan on 8 October.
Private housing suffered the most extensive damage in the quake. Some 600,000 rural and 30,000 urban houses were affected across mountainous terrain stretching 30,000 sq km.
Nearly 2 million quake survivors were forced to live in tents and makeshift shelters through last winter, battling the harsh weather.
Currently, around 35,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) continue to live in tented camps both in NWFP and Pakistani-administered Kashmir (PAK). The plan is to upgrade and winterise the tents in these settlements.
“There is also concern about access to people living in remote locations above 5,000 feet (1,500 m) and along the lower valleys,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement on Sunday.
Meanwhile, UN contingency planning for the upcoming winter in the earthquake zone is under way, for which the organisation has been seeking an additional US $45 million. So far about two-thirds of that sum has been made available, according to OCHA.
“[The] winter operation includes upgrading and replacing the tents in the quake-survivors’ camps, provision of transitional shelters to the rural mountainous population, strengthening healthcare programmes across the quake zone and pre-positioning food and non-food stocks at higher altitudes,” Raabya Amjad, a spokeswoman at the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office (UNORC) said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Sunday.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is preparing to pre-position food at higher altitudes ahead of winter, which is expected to be harsher this year.
“We would try to reduce migrations [from higher altitudes] that are forced upon people due to lack of subsistence or any means of acquiring food. One of the ways to do that is by pre-positioning food at elevations over 3,000 feet [900 m],” Michael Jones, WFP’s country director said in Islamabad.
WFP has been running a two-year earthquake relief programme costing some $68 million. It has provided some 113,638 mt of food to 989,500 beneficiaries in the districts of Bagh, Neelum and Muzaffarabad in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, and in Manshera, Batagram, Shangla and Kohistan in NWFP.
ts/sc/jl
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