Two United Nations agencies have joined forces to
provide shelter and supplies to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by
fighting in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.
UN-HABITAT, the agency tasked with
ensuring adequate shelter for all, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) said
they had begun the distribution of the first batch of 5,000 tents for the most
vulnerable families identified in Mardan and Swabi districts.
UN-HABITAT also has begun distributing mattresses, blankets, buckets, kitchen
sets and jerry cans to some 4,500 families staying in schools in Mardan.
UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond said
the agency had identified two potential sites for new camps in the area and
received permission from the local authorities to start the development of one
of them.
The violence, which broke out on 2 May, has driven more than 1.9 million
people from their homes, adding to some 500,000 forced to flee fighting in the
area last year. Some 10 per cent of the 2.4 million internally displaced persons
(IDPs) in the area are living in camps. The remainder are seeking shelter with
relatives or in rented accommodations and public buildings.
“Host families have seen their households double and even triple overnight as
they've opened their doors to provide refuge to the displaced people,” said
UNHCR Pakistan Representative Guenet Guebre-Christo. “We are providing tents to
particularly needy families which can be pitched within the grounds of their
hosts to help alleviate crowded conditions.”
Calling the scale of the displacement of civilians fleeing clashes between
the Government and militants in north-west Pakistan “unprecedented,” John
Holmes, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, has urged
donors to fund the $543 million appeal launched by the UN and its partners. As
of yesterday, it was only 21 per cent funded.
“Our view is that this is not remotely sufficient,” he said, adding that the
world body and relief agencies will not be able to sustain their operations for
more than another month unless they receive more funds.
The UN, he added, had stepped up efforts to provide assistance in key sectors
such as shelter, health, education, water and sanitation, by delivering
latrines, food and other supplies, as well as building a dozen new camps for the
displaced people as numbers rise.
Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization (WHO) told reporters in Geneva
today that the displaced people faced major health risks, including outbreaks of
communicable disease due to inadequate shelter, physical and mental stress,
inadequate water, sanitation and hygienic conditions, exposure to extreme
weather, low vaccination coverage and inadequate provision of healthcare.
“If there is no proper and timely assistance provided, the morbidity and
mortality rates could certainly increase,” he said.
UN-HABITAT is providing hygiene kits and latrines and supporting minor
repairs of shelters and boundary walls, as well as providing locally procured
alternative shelter kits and assisting with emergency repairs of community
facilities such as water hand pumps and sanitation in local mosques.
“Displaced people residing with host families from the previous caseload and
the new influx constitute the majority of the displaced population, yet they
receive negligible support,” said UN-HABITAT Country Programme Manager Siamak
Moghaddam.
“Our surveys show that they endure severely inadequate shelter and living
conditions, including widespread overcrowding and poor sanitation. We are trying
to reach the most vulnerable internally displaced persons with our intervention,
including this joint effort with UNHCR.”
The joint initiative is part of a longer-term plan to assist in the safe and
dignified return of the displaced people to their homes, UN-HABITAT said.
by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & 
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