PAKISTAN - EARTHQUAKE: USAID/DART SITUATION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 ISLAMABAD 016138

SIPDIS

STATE ALSO PASS TO USAID
USAID/W FOR A/AID ANDREW NATSIOS, JBRAUSE
DCHA/OFDA KISAACS, GGOTTLIEB, MMARX, RTHAYER, BDEEMER
AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA
SOUTH ASIA RESPONSE MANAGEMENT TEAM
SOUTH ASIA EARTHQUAKE TASK FORCE
DCHA/FFP FOR LAUREN LANDIS
ANE DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR MARK WARD
BANGKOK FOR OFDA SENIOR REGIONAL ADVISOR TOM DOLAN
KATHMANDU FOR OFDA REGIONAL ADVISOR WILLIAM BERGER
ROME PASS FODAG
GENEVA FOR RMA AND NKYLOH
NSC FOR JMELINE
EUCOM FOR POLA/J3/J4/J5
BRUSSELS FOR USAID PLERNER
NEW YORK FOR TMALY
SECDEF FOR SOLIC/PKHA, USDP/J3
JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC FOR J3/J4/J5
HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE FOR J3/J5


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID AEMR ASEC MASS ECON KMDR KPAO OIIP OPRC PGOV PREL PK
SUBJECT: PAKISTAN - EARTHQUAKE: USAID/DART SITUATION REPORT
#8

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Summary
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1. As of October 25, the death toll in Pakistan reached
53,000, and the total affected population was between 2.7
and 2.8 million people. Shelter continues to be the primary
need of those affected by the earthquake. The Government of
Pakistan (GOP) continues to monitor the water and sanitation
sector, and the construction of latrines recently increased.
The U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) reported no
significant increase in the spread of communicable diseases.
The GOP continues to work with non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) to establish additional internally
displaced persons (IDP) camps. The U.N. camp management and
protection clusters are concerned with the registration of
IDPs in camps. End summary.

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Shelter
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2. As of October 25, the total affected population was
between 2.7 and 2.8 million people, according to the U.N.
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Approximately 600,000 tents are needed to shelter a
population of this size. To date, the international
community and the GOP have each delivered approximately
60,000 tents to affected populations. With an estimated
180,000 additional tents in the consolidated pipeline, the
total number of tents delivered and in the pipeline to date
is 300,000.


3. A shortfall of approximately 300,000 tents exists. Of
this number, OCHA estimates the need for quote shelter
solutions end quote to be between 45,000 and 210,000.
Approximately 220,000 to 1,000,000 people will likely not
receive shelter assistance from the international relief
effort.


4. On October 25, the USAID Disaster Assistance Response
Team (USAID/DART) Shelter and Settlements Advisor (SSA) and
the USAID/Pakistan Mission Director met with the GOP
Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Task Force to discuss
housing reconstruction. Meeting participants discussed the
importance of linking relief and reconstruction efforts
through emphasis on transitional shelter, and the
significant potential that shelter sector investments have
for generating livelihoods.


5. Also on October 25, the USAID/DART SSA, USAID Pakistan
Mission Director, and USAID/DART Team Leader met with the
GOP Relief Task Force to discuss tent supply and demand
issues. The USAID representatives cautioned that over-
reliance on tents might preclude the GOP and international
community from addressing other, more appropriate means of
shelter. The USAID/DART SSA provided meeting participants
with details on other shelter interventions, including quote
one dry room end quote and host/guest family support
options.


6. The USAID/DART Deputy Team Leader attended a meeting
with OCHA and IOM on October 25. Meeting participants noted
that to date, hosting and spontaneous camps are accounting
for much, if not most, of the accommodations of affected
populations. This trend will likely continue. Water and
sanitation problems are becoming hazards in spontaneous
camps.


7. Many NGOs providing shelter are focusing on rural
communities and developing different toolkit models. They
acknowledge that they will not be able to provide large
quantities of supplies in this short time period and are
consequently working to develop alternate models of
supplying winterized housing.

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Water and Sanitation
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8. On October 24, the Pakistan Council of Research in Water
Resources (PCRWR),the research center of the Pakistan
Ministry of Science and Technology, announced that the
condition of drinking water in the earthquake-hit areas of
Abbottabad and Mansehra in the North-West Frontier Province
(NWFP) is satisfactory, but the drinking water in Pakistani-
administered Kashmir is not as good. The PCRWR dispatched
10 field teams to Abbottabad, Mansehra, Balakot, Batagram,
Rawlakot, Muzaffarabad, and Bagh to assess the drinking
water situation. These teams found that the condition of
the drinking water in Pakistsani-administered Kashmir had
deteriorated to a large extent.


9. In Muzaffarabad, the PCRWR teams continue to monitor
water resources, rehabilitation of water supply structures,
and the installation of two filtration plans with a capacity
of 48,000 liters of water per day. Approximately 90 percent
of the city's water mains are functioning. Remaining leaks
in the city's water mains will be repaired by next week.


10. According to the USAID/ART FO, latrine construction in
IDP settlements has increased with the arrival of plastic
latrine slabs. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-Holland is
initiating a concrete latrine slab reconstruction program.

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Health
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11. The USAID/DART FO reported that according to WHO, the
vaccination campaign in Muzaffarabad is proceeding very
well. Having nearly completed vaccinations in the
Muzaffarabad area, 19 two-person teams have expanded their
operations to rural areas.


12. The USAID/DART FO reported that Oxfam has established
hygiene promotion committees in each IDP settlement.
Islamic Relief has distributed 490 hygiene kits in
settlements.


13. According to the USAID/DART FO, WHO has reported no
significant increase in communicable diseases in the
earthquake-affected region. After observing a slight
increase in scabies in IDP settlements, WHO requested that
hygiene promotion teams and clinical programs include
scabies prevention in their hygiene promotion programs.

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Food and Nutrition
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14. A U.S. Embassy/Pakistan representative reported that in
the October 24 food cluster group meeting, the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stated that in almost all
of their camps, the Pakistani military has provided most of
the food. Participants in the October 24 U.N. food cluster
meeting noted that Save the Children is feeding
approximately 150 patients and staff in the Batagram field
hospital. Meeting participants agreed that obtaining
shelter is a more pressing problem than obtaining clean
drinking water.

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Logistics
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15. A representative of the U.S. Embassy/Pakistan reported
that in the October 24 U.N. general coordination meeting,
the U.N. logistics cluster group discussed the need to
create a rough plan for cargo distribution in affected
areas. The U.N. Joint Logistics Center (JLC) is the point
of contact for air operations. As such, the JLC is
responsible for comparing requests by NGOs for air shipments
to the priority needs list and validating requests. The
U.N. logistics cluster group will present its six-week
operations plan at the October 27 coordination meeting. At
present, however, the JLC is not fully active in its role as
the point of contact for air operations, and USAID/DART
representatives continue to work at coordinating air
operations.


16. According to the JLC, in the past week, JLC staff
deployed to the airport operation have more than doubled,
aided by the seconding of two GOP liaison officers. In the
next week to ten days, the cargo-carrying capacity of the
combined Pakistani and international rotary wing fleet
deployed to the emergency is likely to double with the
arrival of heavy lift military helicopters.

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National Recovery Plan
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17. The USAID/DART U.N. Liaison Officer (UNLO) reported
that in the October 24 U.N. general coordination meeting,
participants stated that President Pervez Musharraf will
convene a National Recovery Plan conference on November 18
in Islamabad. The World Bank and the Asian Development
Bank, joined by the G7, are the main partners in the
development of this plan, under the direction of the GOP.
In the first week of November, President Musharraf will
receive a draft document of this plan.

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U.N. Flash Appeal
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18. In the October 25 U.N. coordination meeting,
participants discussed the revision to the U.N. Flash
Appeal, to be introduced on October 28 in Geneva. The
revised appeal will be for USD 500 million. A major target
in the revised appeal will be sustained helicopter
operations during the winter months.

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Damage Assessments
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19. The USAID/DART UNLO reported that in a U.N.
coordination meeting on October 25, participants stated that
earthquake modeling has established three levels for use in
damage estimates: high, medium, and low. High impact areas
include the cities of Shangla, Batagram, Lari, Balakot,
Mansehra, Muzaffarabad, Abbottabad, Bagh, Rawalakot, Kahuta,
and Punch. Medium impact areas include the cities of
Bathela, Topi, Indus, Tarbela Dam, Haripur, Wah, and
Islamabad. Low impact areas include Risalpu, Kamra,
Nowshera, Mardan, Indus, and Campellpore. Meeting
participants noted that route 25 from Islamabad to
Muzaffarabad route 35 from Wah to Shangla are both open.

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IDP Movements, Camps, and Camp Management
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20. According to the USAID/DART FO, NGOs are reporting that
IDP movement is limited because many of the roads in
affected areas are closed. At this point, it appears that
people prefer to stay closer to their homes rather than
migrate to cities. The international community is concerned
that if supplies do not reach the most vulnerable, this
population will begin migrating in the coming weeks.


21. At present, 19 unregistered IDP camps are located in
Muzaffarabad. Almustafa, a local NGO, is constructing new
camps and working with the GOP to move IDPs in unregistered
camps to the camps under construction. In Thori Park, one
of the new camps, this NGO plans to provide space and
supporting infrastructure for at least 600 tents. Numerous
unresolved issues about security, water and sanitation, and
other aspects of the camps characterize the plan for Thori
Park. UNHCR is satisfied with this camp, which will house
up to 1,500 tents, and would like to set up additional camps
with this NGO. Many other NGOs, however, have expressed
concerns with the camp setup, noting that mega camps are not
the correct solution for this environment.


22. According to the USAID/DART UNLO, participants in the
October 25 U.N. coordination meeting reported that seven
camps have been established in Mansehra and one in
Muzaffarabad. The UNHCR was absent from the meeting, and
other meeting participants were unable to confirm the
population present in each camp.


23. The U.N. camp management and protection clusters are
concerned with the registration of IDPs in camps. UNHCR
plans to register IDPs in the camps it is administering and
is considering establishing registration for other camps.

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Children
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24. The international community has asked those who find
unaccompanied children in earthquake-affected areas to
contact the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
immediately. If children (under the age of 18) in affected
areas are transported to other areas, a relative should
accompany the children when possible.

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USAID/DART Activities
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25. The USAID/DART has requested 30,000 blankets for those
affected by the earthquake. The USAID/OFDA warehouse in
Dubai will supply these blankets. Pending aircraft
availability, the blankets will be delivered to Islamabad
October 30.


26. Prior to October 24, the USAID/DART had facilitated the
transport of 1,150 rolls of plastic sheeting. On October
24, the USAID/DART facilitated the first of six additional
transports of rolls of plastic sheeting. On October 24 and
October 25, two shipments containing a total of 1,660 rolls
of plastic, or enough for 8,300 families, arrived in
Islamabad. The first shipment of 820 rolls of plastic
sheeting went to GOAL for distribution, and ACTED will
distribute the second shipment of 840 rolls. On October 26,
a USAID flight carrying 840 rolls of plastic sheeting,
provided to Catholic Relief Services (CRS) for distribution,
arrived in Islamabad. The USAID/DART expects three
additional flights containing plastic sheeting to arrive
within the week.




CROCKER