PAKISTAN: More than 100,000 quake victims need proper shelter this winter

[1m@@n]

PAKISTAN: More than 100,000 quake victims need proper shelter this winter

02-06-2006


MUZAFFARABAD,(IRIN) - For 7-year-old Shabez and his sister, it is difficult to know what their family will do. They lost everything in last year's devastating earthquake in northern Pakistan and now face an uncertain future.

"I don't have a house to go to," he said casually outside his family's tent in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. "I guess we will live here for a while," he said smiling.

But under the stifling midday sun, there were few smiles on the faces of the other residents at the small, tented community in the heart of the city.

Not knowing what to do or where to go and with their numbers large, their plight will undoubtedly prove a key challenge for the authorities and donor community in the months ahead, aid workers say.

More than 100,000 quake survivors will be living in tents and transitional shelters this coming winter, as well as for the foreseeable future, the UN's top official in the country warned on Friday.

"We are talking mostly about people living in urban centres," Jan Vandemoortele, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Pakistan, told IRIN in Muzaffarabad, citing cities and towns where very little reconstruction had taken place.

"They will be living in organised camps, mostly tents as well as other forms of shelter," he maintained, adding: "This is not because anybody is not doing his or her work - but simply because the situation is so complex".

His comments coincide with the first regional launch of the US $300 million one-year Early Recovery Plan (ERP) aimed at bridging the gap between relief and reconstruction in the quake-devastated region by Pakistan's Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) and the UN system in the country.

The launch follows similar events in New York, Geneva and the Pakistani capital, Islamabad in May, to galvanise further donor support.

The goal of the plan is to support the longer-term road to reconstruction by bridging the end of the relief phase and the start of full-scale reconstruction.

With over $100 million already secured, the plan offers concrete proposals to channel another $190 million worth of pledges out of $6.2 billion committed for quake relief during last November's donor conference for reconstruction.

Under the plan, efforts to boost health, livelihoods, water and sanitation, housing, shelter and camp management, as well as governance and disaster risk reduction, will be made.

More than 73,000 people were killed and thousands more injured when the 7.6 magnitude quake ripped through Pakistani-administered Kashmir and Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) on 8 October 2005, rendering more than 3.5 million people homeless.

Of the 300,000 displaced by the disaster, some 200,000 have returned to their places of origin, many through assistance by the UN.

But according to Vandemoortele, of those remaining, many are not displaced at all. Like Shabez, they live in camps in close proximity to their destroyed homes or property, but lack the necessary shelter to return.

Added to that are people who might have had a place in the mountains, but could not return due to landslides, property disputes, concerns over food security and access, as well as vulnerable persons such as orphans, widows, the physically handicapped and the elderly.

"There are certainly going to be over 100,000 people," Vandemoortele confirmed, citing a current figure of 80,000 people in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, as well as another 50,000 in NWFP.


This item comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies.

[ishkabab]

Asslamu Alaikum
sad isnt it....we've sent money and lots of clothing there like bout 2 boxes but only 1 box went and the other one got returned..people in the airport make a big fuss....and i dont understand why.....

[Arwa]

:sl:

May Allah help the people of Pakistan and give them patience.

[era]

:sl:
very sad
ameem for sis arwa's dua

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[Joe98]

May Allah help the people of Pakistan and give them patience.

It was Alllah who created the earthquake in the first place!

[chacha_jalebi]

well spotted joe :D

Allah (swt) tests d nations in his way, so we pray dat we past all his tests & we r safe frm d hell fire & he blesses our brothers & sisters in Pakistan :)

inshallah, Allah (swt) will help d pakis proply, cos dey need it man!!!

[Arwa]

It was Alllah who created the earthquake in the first place!

No one denies that. :) Everything happens with the will of Allah, no doubt.

This earthquake was a test from Allah to test whether His servants kept their faith in Allah and held on to their religion or whether they lost their faith in Allah and went astray.

However, on the other hand, it could have been a punishment or a warning from Allah.

There are many people who believe the former due to where the earthquake struck (northern areas in villages where the majority of the people are practising) but Allah knows best.

Oh and remember, if Allah brings you to it, He will bring you through it. :)

In Surah 2, verse 286, Allah says:

"On no soul doth Allah Place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns."

Everything happens for a reason from Allah but we do not know Allah's Wisdom behind it, and whatever happens, happens for the best, God willing. :)

And just like chacha_jalebi said, we just have to pray so that Allah can forgive us, and help us through and have trust in Allah.

Trust in Allah is one of the best things a believer can do, and believe you me, I speak from experience and couldn't stress on how important and practical it is. :)

[Joe98]

This earthquake was a test from Allah to test whether His servants kept their faith in Allah.....

Those servants who were killed were not tested. They were killed.

-

[Arwa]

Those servants who were killed were not tested. They were killed.

-

Their reward lies with Allah. None of our business as to what will happen to them in the hereafter. Allah will judge, and He will judge everyone justly.

[snakelegs]

:sl:

May Allah help the people of Pakistan and give them patience.

ameen from a non-muslim, but ameen, nonetheless. it's disgraceful how these people still are homeless. this earthquake was the worst natural disaster that i know of. i hate to think what lifelong effect this horror may have on the children.

[z5a0b4]

It is truly a very sad incident, i am not trying to be mean, but why did it happen to Pakistan, a muslim country?