1.8 m quake
victims at risk, says Oxfam
ISLAMABAD—At least 1.8 million people living in makeshift shelters and
tents are at risk from the Himalayan winter a year after an earthquake
ravaged northern Pakistan, the international aid agency Oxfam said on
Wednesday.
The 7.6. magnitude quake on October 8, last year killed more than 73,000
people in northern Pakistan, a further 1,500 in Indian Kashmir and
rendered more than three million destitute.
"A recent Oxfam survey of 17 earthquake-hit villages found that
virtually all those who were living in tents lacked adequate protection
against winter weather," the aid agency said in a statement saying 1.8
million quake-affected people were at risk.
Other agencies estimate fewer people are at risk, but the numbers till
run into hundreds of thousands.
Before last winter, relief agencies had feared a second wave of deaths
from cold and sickness among survivors living in makeshift shelters and
insanitary camps, but the weather was mercifully mild.
Relief agencies fear the winter won't be as kind for a second year
running.
"With snow already falling, this winter seems to have arrived early,"
said Farhana Faruqi Stocker of Oxfam International.
Kate Simpson, from Oxfam's advocacy office, told a news conference in
Islamabad that 70,000 internally displaced people were expect to flood
into camps as winter closed in.
The Oxfam report termed the progress of recovery as patchy and the pace
of construction of housing and infrastructure as slow, compounded by
administrative problems and corruption.
"When we see that one year after Hurricane Katrina, the world's richest
nation -- the U.S. -- is struggling with the reconstruction of New
Orleans, it is no surprise that Pakistan has faced difficulties in the
recovery across a much bigger area and much more difficult terrain,"
said Stocker in the statement.
Elaborating on the graft allegation, Stocker said local officials were
involved in corrupt practices while verifying land records and
disbursing cash compensation.
She also expressed concern over the activities of some militant-linked
charities, like Jamaat-ud-Dawa, in providing relief, and said some had
tried to turn people against non-government organizations, and even made
threats.—Agencies |
