UN revises $272m quake relief appeal
Reconstruction, rehabilitation to take 5 to 10 years: UN official
By Makhdoom Babar

ISLAMABAD—United Nations is planning to revise its appeal due to severity of the earthquake in Azad Kashmir and NWFP in which thousands of people have been dead and 2.5 million people made homeless.
This was stated by Under Secretary General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland during a news conference here on Friday.
He said that 272 million dollars aid was not enough to meet relief and rehabilitation expenses and UN was planning to revise the flash appeal 2005 for South Asia Earthquake and asked the international community to donate generously. He said that UN had received 225 million dollars donations.
He said due to enormous scale of disastrous ten years were required for the reconstruction of infrastructure in Azad Kashmir and in NWFP.
He appreciated the efforts of Pakistan in reaching the affected areas and starting rescue and relief operation despite the destruction of roads in these areas. He said in Azad Kashmir and NWFP areas many villages were almost wiped out and schools destroyed.
Jan Egeland said that during his meetings with President and the Prime Minister they assured him of every kind of facility including stamping of immediate visa to the relief workers at the airport and custom free relief consignments coming in Pakistan.
About the relief work, he said that UN system along with the coordination of Pak. Army, Ministries, governmental agencies and NGOs was working in affected areas of Azad Kashmir and NWFP.
He said that today 135 relief air crafts landed and took off and hundreds of international relief flights would come in the next few days. He said UN system would ensure the availability of forty to fifty helicopter to be used in relief operation in the next few days.
He said that twenty two fields hospitals with necessary facilities would be established in the quake stricken areas.
He said that the biggest relief aid was contributed by USA, UK, Japan and Canada and more countries were coming in. He said that Pakistan was embracing a major catastrophe and there was an urgent need for tents, blankets and food items for the quake affectees.
Our Peshawar Bureau adds: Provincial chief of United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Osama Makkawi Khogali has promised the NWFP government of cooperation in the establishment of proposed ‘tentage city’ for the quake affectees in Haripur.
“The UNICEF will provide drinking water and sanitation facilities to the people in this regard.” He was talking to the Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani at the Frontier House, on Friday.
Makkawi expressed his profound grief over the disasters and losses due to the earthquake, adding that the UNICEF would not leave affectees in the lurch and would help the provincial government in this hour of need.
The Chief Minister said ‘tent homes’ on emergency basis had been set up for the quake affectees in Baqlakot, Battagram, Allai and Bisham. “Cold will become more intense in the coming days and the provision of large tents to the affectees is a must,” he said.
Osama Makkawi informed the chief minister that 500 tents had reached the airport. The Chief Minister directed the concerned officials to immediately reach out the tents to Allai and Battagram to mitigate the sufferings of the affectees.
He stressed to set up the offices of UNICEF in Basham, Allai and other affected areas and informed that helicopters would also be provided to UNICEF, if required.
The Chief Minister assured that the relief goods, provided by the UNICEF, would be safely shipped to Swat, Bisham and Battagram and security would be provided to the UNICEF staff. He also directed the DCO Peshawar to make arrangements for the storage of relief goods at the airport, arriving from outside.
Durrani said the provincial government had appointed 3 officials in order to bring discipline in the distribution of relief goods among the affectees and had also ordered the tehsildar and naib tehsildar of Haripur to report to the DCO Battagram. “ACO Swabi, DMG and PCS officers of BPS-17 along with tehsildar Haripur have been made responsible to the DCO Battagram,” he maintained.
He said the reshuffle of the officials aimed to improve the performance of Crisis Management Centre, so that the relief operations continued to help out the people. Due to the large-scale relief operations, a DCO is compelled to do too much. That is why, various areas have been shared out, he added.
Osama Makkawi, on this occasion, said the UNICEF would kick off a relief programme worth 10 millions dollars for the quake affectees of NWFP and Azad Kashmir, adding: “We would fully cooperate in the provision of sanitation, drinking water and faculties of social services to people, residing in the proposed ‘tentage city’”.
Thousands of children in regions devastated by South Asia’s earthquake are at risk of death from cold, malnutrition and disease, UNICEF said.
The UN agency said the international relief effort must focus on keeping children alive in the weeks ahead. It said it was sending high protein biscuits, boots and sweaters for children, blankets, water containers, plastic tarpaulins, tents, medical supplies and blankets to affected areas.
“With wintry conditions arriving in the higher elevations, children are facing a potentially deadly combination of cold, malnutrition, and disease,” UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman said in a statement from New York on Thursday.
“Most housing has been destroyed in the hardest-hit areas, so the survival of thousands of young children is now at stake,” Veneman said. Routine immunization coverage in the quake zone is about 60 per cent for young children, so hundreds of thousands are unprotected against deadly diseases such as measles, UNICEF said. It said it was sending Vitamin A to the region to boost immune systems of children, who are more vulnerable to measles if weakened by exposure and malnutrition.
Nearly half of those affected are younger than 18, the agency said. The Oct. 8 earthquake killed tens of thousands in northwest Pakistan and in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. India reported more than 1,300 deaths in its portion of Kashmir.
Lahore Bureau adds: As many as 240 truck loaded with relief items have been dispatched for disaster stricken areas from Army Relief Camp established at Fortress Stadium Lahore by Friday.
The army has also collected an amount of Rs 3 million in cash as donations being contributed by general public visiting the camp.
According to the relief camp supervisor, Lieutenant Colonel Umar Farooq, so far 240 truck loads of relief goods have been dispatched from Fortress Stadium Camp to disaster stricken areas, while another 60 truck load of donations are ready for transportation any time. He said that more than Rs 2.4 million have been collected in cash. ‘Pakistan Army is further purchasing the much needed tents, warm clothings, blankets and digging tools with this money that are badly required in quake ravaged areas. These items are on our priority list as provision of shelter and warm clothing for people living under the open skies in rainy and chilly cold weather is badly needed in the calamity hit areas’, he added.
He appreciated the sense of service and sacrifice being shown by the general public contributing their maximum to accelerate the pace of relief efforts.
APP adds: District government Bahawalpur will despatch twenty five more trucks carrying relief goods for quake victims soon, said Nazim Ch.Tariq Bashir Cheema here Friday.
Talking to APP, newly elected District Nazim Bahawalpur, Ch.Tariq Bashir Cheema said five trucks have already been despatched to affected areas for earthquake victims.
However, he said that twenty five more trucks carrying blankets, tents, beds and other essential articles would be despatched to affected areas for quake victims soon.
He thanked the people of Bahawalpur, traders, government officials, NGOs and citizen organizations who are contributing relief goods to their brethren, adding that all district people stand with them at this time of natural tragedy.
Meanwhile, Desert Rangers Headquarters Bahawalpur has despatched ten trucks carrying relief goods for quake victims, Besides depositing Rs. 1.0 million in President’s Relief Fund.
Commander Army Aviation Maj Gen Javed Aslam Tahir on Friday said all possible efforts are being made for the rescue of affectees in quake-hit areas.
Talking to media here at Chaklala Airbase, he said that shifting of injured people from the affected areas is the topmost priority of the Pakistan Army.
He said Pakistan Army personnel are working 24 hours in the relief and rescue operations.
Army Aviation helicopters on Friday carried out rescue and relief operations in several inaccessible areas of quake-stricken cities, he said.
He further said relief items were also dropped in Chakot, Suddan Galli,Saropa Neelam valley and Garhi Doppatta. The relief goods included food items,tents and blankets dropped by helicopters.
He said relief items are being distributed in Muzaffarabad and surrounding area where the roads are open.
To a question, he said that soon after the severe earthquake, which caused vast destruction, Pakistan Army had started rescue and relief operations.