WUNRN
PAKISTAN - REFUGEES OF CONFLICT -
WOMEN & CHILDREN
Photo: Pakistani refugee girls line up to receive food rations.
__________________________________________________________________________
UNHCR - UN Refugee
Agency
More and More Pakistani Displaced Move to Camps as Needs Grow
PESHAWAR,
Pakistan, June 9 (UNHCR) – Unlike many emergencies, the vast majority of people
displaced by the upsurge in fighting in Pakistan's Swat Valley, and Lower Dir
and Buner districts have found shelter, not in camps, but with host families or
in communal buildings such as schools. As the conflict enters its sixth week
and the number of displaced continues to rise, overcrowding and the shortage of
resources is becoming acute. UNHCR is seeking to ease the congestion by
expanding camps and by providing assistance to host families.
Growing
numbers of displaced "feel that they cannot stay forever as guests in host
families, who themselves are often quite poor," explained UNHCR field
officer Shankar Chauhan. The result, he said, is that "more and more . . .
are starting to move to camps."
An
estimated 235,000 people are staying in 21 organized camps in the North West
Frontier Province (NWFP), according to local authorities. This includes more
than 148,000 people who fled their homes over the past five weeks. In addition,
some 100,000 people are staying in camp-like situations in schools and other
government buildings. With the lifting of the curfew on Tuesday in Chakdara, in
Malakand, more people are expected to arrive in safe areas.
Some
new arrivals at camps report host families running short of money. Others say they
have been staying in schools in villages where they received only limited
assistance. When schools reopen in August, many displaced people staying there
will also be forced to move on.
Saif
is a resident of the Swat Valley town of Mingora. He arrived with his wife and
three sons in Larama camp on June 3 after fleeing shelling in his home area.
For 15 days, he stayed with cousins in a school in Gujergari, in Mardan
district. "We were about three to four families in a class room, sleeping
on mats on the floor," he recalled.
"At
the beginning of our stay, villagers were bringing us food. But after two or
three days they stopped. I had to borrow money from my cousins to be able to
buy food at the market for my family."
Privacy
was also a problem. "We decided to leave. Our cousins gave us some money
to take a bus to come here in Larama camp, in Peshawar."
To
address the space shortage for displaced people like Saif, UNHCR is seeking
land to develop additional camps. Two new camps which opened last week have already
almost reached full capacity. New arrivals are being directed to the larger
Jalozai camp, Nowshera. It is now hosting around 97,000 displaced people,
including 52,000 who arrived since early May.
Others
are being directed to Yar Hussain camp in Swabi district which currently is
home to 29,000 people. In Yar Hussain alone, 1,170 new internally displaced
people were registered on Monday. The two camps are being expanded continuously
to accommodate new arrivals.
In
addition, UNHCR is exploring the possibility of providing shelter kits for
displaced people staying with host families. A technical working group is
developing a prototype kit, and the project will be launched in rural areas
where families have more land or gardens where the kits can be used.
The
project is a joint effort between UNHCR, UN-Habitat, World Vision, Norwegian
Refugee Council, Catholic Relief Services, and Relief International. In
addition, UNHCR continues to work with UN-Habitat to distribute tents to people
staying with host families. More than 3,500 tents have been distributed to
date.
On
Wednesday, UNHCR and local partner agency, Sarhad Rural Support Programme, will
start distributing relief items to displaced people staying in schools, host
families and rented accommodations in Charssada and Nowshera districts. Some
84,000 people in Charssada and 54,000 people in Nowshera will receive relief
items such as mats, kitchen sets, plastic sheeting and jerry cans.
UNHCR
wants to scale up its assistance to people staying outside of camps, and is
procuring more relief items. But it urgently needs funds to buy more supplies.
UNHCR still requires US$67 million for the operation in Pakistan until the end
of the year. This figure may need to be revised if the number of displaced
rises.
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