WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

PAKISTAN - CRITICAL DISPLACEMENT CRISIS - CONFLICT - WOMEN & CHILDREN

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30616436/displaymode/1176/rstry/30614121/

Mohammad Sajjad / AP

Newly arrived refugees from Pakistan's troubled areas of Mingora and Buner in the Swat valley, wait for tents in a camp set up for people who fled from fighting between Taliban militants and government security forces, in Mardan near Peshawar, Pakistan on Wednesday, May 6, 2009. Helicopter gunships and mortar teams pounded militant strongholds, killing dozens outside emerald mines, the military said, as Taliban reinforcements poured down from their mountain hide-outs and seized homes and government buildings.(AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

_____________________________________________________________________________________

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 13 (UNHCR) – The number of people who have fled the fighting in northwest Pakistan this month and been registered or recorded by authorities reached 670,906 on Wednesday, up from just over half a million the day before.

The majority of those registered by Pakistani authorities with the assistance of UNHCR are staying in the homes of friends and relatives or camping out in the open; a fraction of the total – 79,842 – are now living in camps.

Together with more than 550,000 registered displaced people in the North West Frontier Province and some 21,000 in the capital Islamabad and urban areas of the Punjab, the continuing exodus brings to 1,248,715 the total number of people displaced in Pakistan since August, 2008.

UNHCR believes the total number of people who have fled the fighting in recent weeks could be much higher, since many of those fleeing the fighting between government forces and militants have not yet registered with authorities.

______________________________________________________________________________________

May 14, 2009 

António Guterres
UN High Commissioner for Refugees

"Upon my arrival, I was informed that more than 835,000 people fleeing the fighting in northwest Pakistan have been registered since 2 May. The latest figure is a dramatic increase within just 48 hours as the day before the number of displaced Pakistanis surpassed the half a million mark. This is a massive, massive displacement in the world today."

================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to: wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.