Peshawar, Pakistan: Less than 9 months after the dramatic events in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) which caused the displacement of 500,000 people, a new Pakistani army offensive against Taliban militants has triggered a major humanitarian crisis in Northern Pakistan. According to UN estimates as of May 25th 2009, over 2 million people - many of whom are children women, and elderly - have fled from Swat, lower Dir, Buner and Shangla since the end of April as a result of ongoing fighting and increased insecurity, bringing the total internally displaced persons (IDP) in the North Western Frontier Province of Pakistan to an astonishing 2.5 million.
As the number of internally displaced people continues to grow at rate of nearly 100,000 new arrivals per day, aid agencies are striving to meet the needs of the vulnerable populations forced to leave their homes and take refuge in host villages in nearby valleys of Northern Pakistan.
As an immediate response and in partnership with UNICEF, the French Ministry of foreign affairs (CDC), OFDA and Shelter Box UK, ACTED has started an emergency distribution of kits (shelter kits, essential family kits and hygiene kits) to more than 2,000 displaced families in camps and informal settlements within Mardan and Swabi districts. In coordination with WFP, ACTED has also taken over the management of the logistic hub in Nowshera and will proceed to the distribution of food to an additional 30,000 highly vulnerable and food insecure people. Our staff is already launching an emergency food relief operation for 10,000 displaced families located in public buildings or hosted by relatives.
Indeed, the vast majority of the displaced - almost 80 percent - do not reach the recently established camps and are living with relatives or friends or squatting in schools, abandoned buildings and other improvised shelters. It is therefore critical to assist these especially vulnerable people in desperate need of drinking water, shelter, food, sanitation, and other basic services.
In order to address this unprecedented crisis, ACTED launched an emergency appeal to provide immediate live-saving assistance to 30,000 most vulnerable displaced families. In the coming days and weeks, ACTED is planning to conduct large scale distributions of shelter, food and non-food items to cover the emergency needs of around 200,000 people located in Mardan, Swabi, Nowshera and surrounding districts. In addition, to prevent the spread of infections and the risk of dehydration, as outside temperatures can often reach 40 degrees Celsius, ACTED is also planning to build latrines, washing facilities and waste collection points and to organise supplementary water trucking in improvised camps and collective centres.
Contact:
- Maria van Kruijsdijk (Reporting officer, ACTED Pakistan): +92 (0)301 5363 964 (Islamabad) - maria.van-kruijsdijk@acted.org
- Adrien Tomarchio (Press Officer): +33 (0)1 42 65 33 33 (Paris) - adrien.tomarchio@acted.org
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
An internally displaced girl, fleeing a military offensive in the Swat valley region, is pictured at the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) Jalozai camp, about 140 km (87 miles) ...
