SITUATION REPORT #1 - CYCLONE YEMYIN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 002919 SIPDIS AID/ANE FOR: NMADHAV, RSTEELMAN AID/OFDA FOR: RTHAYER, TDOLAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PGOV PK SUBJECT: SITUATION REPORT #1 - CYCLONE YEMYIN ¶1. (U) On Monday, July 2, 2007 Major General Farooq Ahmad Khan, Chairman of the Pakistan National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) held a meeting with the donor and diplomatic community to provide a briefing on the impact of the recent cyclone, what the Government of PakistanQs (GOP) response is, and discuss next steps. ¶2. (U) The NDMA has established a website, http://www.ndma.gov.pk, which will be the official source of information to the donor community on the cyclone and its aftermath. The website will include MAJ GEN FarooqQs presentation. ¶3. (U) MAJ GEN Farooq informed the donor and diplomatic community that the GOP and the NDMA had done a good job in managing the impact of the cyclone, but that international support from the Qfriends of PakistanQ was needed and desired in the form of cash, medicines, and water purification supplies. ¶4. (U) The NDMA through its early warning system had limited the number of people killed in the cyclone. This included warning people in coastal area of the incoming storm and in notifying fishermen and preventing them from going to sea. Given the magnitude of the storm, only approximately 225 people died. If the NDMA had not acted decisively the number of deaths would have been much greater. ¶5. (U) Since the storm the NDMA has established five logistical centers that are using military assets to deliver needed supplies by both air and road. The GOP has provided 200 million Rupees (approximately USD 3.33 million) to relief operations so far. GOP has sent two army brigades to Balochistan to supervise the relief effort and to keep civil order. To date the Army has provided 41 C-130 sorties delivering 80,000 KG of food to Balochistan and 150,000 KG of food to Sindh. The Army has also provided 12,000 tents and is purchasing an additional 100,000. ¶6. (U) Balochistan suffered significant damage to its infrastructure. The main highway between Wad and Bela has been severely damaged. In addition, the Gawadar and Lasbella highway, known as the coastal highway, has been breeched at several points, with bridges being washed away. The Iranian Ambassador in a Q&A session after the presentation mentioned that roads have been washed away on both the Iranian and Balochistan side of the border at four of the five entry points. The only useable point of entry is at Tafton. Several water embankments in the Quetta area failed and these caused major damage. However, MAJ GEN Farooq mentioned that the Mirani Dam held, which prevented significant damage. There was no major infrastructure damage in Sindh and the Army has not deployed significant numbers there. ¶7. (U) The GOP intends to establish a Disaster Management Fund, where donors can contribute cash and in-kind. (COMMENT: Creation of the fund was a recommendation made by USAIDQs Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) based on lessons learned from previous disaster and emergency relief ISLAMABAD 00002919 002 OF 002 experience. END COMMENT.) When asked if the United Nations could receive donor contributions for the Fund, Farooq replied that the decision to do this had not yet been made. NDMA intends to undertake damage assessments and is inviting donor participation in these assessments. It intends to adapt the UN cluster approach to identifying damage done to different sectors, e.g. health and education, in forming its own clusters. Details of this approach still need to be worked out. Updates and progress of relief activities will be posted on NDMAQs website. ¶8. (U) MAJ GEN Farooq cautioned that another major weather system is approaching Pakistan this week, which will also have a potentially serious impact on the cyclone-affected regions. Patterson