NATO airlift arrives
UNHCR steps up quake relief work
By Asad Cheema

ISLAMABAD—The largest NATO airlift of UNHCR relief supplies to date arrived here Wednesday, carrying 87 tonnes of relief items to supplement supplies for Pakistan’s earthquake survivors.
The Boeing 747 flight touched down at Islamabad’s Chaklala military airbase, bringing 42 pallets of tents, blankets and stoves from UNHCR’s warehouse in southern Turkey.
The now-daily Boeing 747 arrivals will boost the speed of aid delivery, complementing the ongoing C-130 NATO flights that started on October 19.
The supplies are being rushed to earthquake victims in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province and Azad Kashmir. Today, 500 tents were distributed to homeless people in two sites near Muzaffarabad. Hattian Bala, about 35 km from Muzaffarabad and previously inaccessible due to blocked roads, will receive 300 tents at a camp run by Al Mustafa Welfare Society in the first aid convoy since roads were reopened earlier this week. Sarran, about 20 km away, will receive 200 tents at a site set up by Al Khidmat.
Another 400 tents were given yesterday to Thori Park, a camp run by Al Mustafa beside the Jhelum river in Muzaffarabad.
Living conditions are improving in camps in NWFP, where UNHCR has been sending more tents and relief items. Ghari Habibullah camp, which houses nearly 1,500 people, now has water points, a tented school and a clinic. International and local NGOs are also providing services like water and sanitation, health care and education in Bassian camp, home to more than 2,000 people.
Outside the camps, remote villages have also been asking for relief items, including villages like Pattan Kala near Mansehra and those in the Alai district near Batagram. Yesterday UNHCR gave 85 tents and 400 plastic sheets to the military for distribution in unreached areas in Alai, by airlift if necessary.
With only weeks to go before rains and snow arrive, UNHCR needs to step up its aid delivery and camp management work. Under the UN Flash Appeal, it has asked for $22 million but only received some $4 million.