CWS-ACT
Earthquake Response

ACT Situation Report

Pakistan 17/05

Pakistan earthquake: CWS-ACT response

Geneva, December 19, 2005

Information supplied by ACT member Church World Service (Pakistan/Afghanistan office)

General situation

A joint survey undertaken by UN agencies, the International Organization for Migration, the Government of Pakistan (GoP) and NGOs has indicated that approximately 75% of families below 5,000 feet in North West Frontier Province and Azad Kashmir live in non-winterized shelters. There is a need for a further 2.4 million blankets or 1.2 million quilts, 170,000 plastic sheets and 200,000 tarpaulins to ensure additional thermal protection for the people and structural support for the tents.

Currently there are approximately 184,000 people in 502 spontaneous and organized camps. In a week’s time, UNCHR will have enough non-food items to support 180,000 people in camps and have a contingency stock for an additional 80,000 people. The GoP has put aside 25,000 tents should the need arise for more camps as a result of population movements in the coming weeks. UNHCR and GoP have identified and prepared sites for such camps.

Major issues facing women and children

Of the approximately 86,000 people killed in the quake, 19,000 were children. Another 10,000 lost at least one parent. Approximately 800,000 women between the ages of 15 and 49 were also affected. Nearly 1.6 to 2.2 million children are at a particular risk, facing cold, malnutrition and disease.

Disabled children: Estimates suggest that up to 50,000 children are seriously injured and that many of them will be permanently disabled.

Trauma conditions in children: Mid-term to long-term health concerns include managing emotional and physical trauma and rehabilitation of physically handicapped children.

Nutrition situation

• A possible rapid increase in acute malnutrition if appropriate and timely measures are not taken as soon as possible.
• Feeding practices for infants and young children have also been affected. About 20% of mothers with children under 2 years have stopped breastfeeding mainly due to illness of the mother and inadequate breast milk – and, for almost 10%, due to the absence (missing or dead) of the mother. Among children 3 to 5 years old, almost half changed their feeding practices in terms of reduction in quantity (frequency and amount) and quality (types) of food. The main reasons cited for these changes were shortage of food (55%), fear and shock, leading to loss of appetite (11%) and sickness (11%)

Measles: A measles campaign, along with vitamin A supplementation, is going on and is being accelerated to reach a targeted 800,000 children under age 15 in Azad Kashmir in the next two weeks. Measles poses one of the greatest threats to child survival in emergency situations, especially when immune systems have been weakened by exposure and malnutrition.

Pregnant women at risk of miscarriage: The UN estimates that 40,000 pregnant women were among the 4 million people affected by the earthquake. Health officials say the trembler may have triggered miscarriages and premature labor, and could worsen Pakistan’s already dismal statistics on infant mortality. Fifty percent of the affected married women are pregnant.

Church World Service (CWS)-ACT response

As winter continues to set in, CWS is making its best effort to stabilize the shelter situation in the Shohal Najaf tent village. The administration of tent village, which was previously handled by the military and supported by CWS-ACT, has now been handed over to the civil authorities.

The CWS psychosocial care program plans to assist 700 families. The team is currently working with 200 families (325 women) at the Shohal Najaf tent village. The team also plans to extend the program to another 665 families in the Bisyan tent village in the coming days. The main aim of educating women is that they are able to educate the whole family in turn.

At the Shohal Najaf tent village, the CWS psychosocial program team met with Ms. Samina Khan from UNHCR. Issues and problems faced by the camp residents like heating, electricity in the latrines, drainage lines and the need for fire-safety equipment were discussed in the meeting.

The team of CWS psychosocial experts held a series of meetings with women in the Shohal Najaf tent village to revive their self confidence amid their acute post-earthquake trauma. The meeting focused on developing a sense of self control in these women and enabling them to express their feelings through emotions and cognitive processing of events. In light of the 6.7-magnitude earthquake on December 13, the women also shared their fears and uncertainties with the psychosocial team.

The psychosocial team met with some of the men in the tent village as well to discuss the new government strategy for relief camps and tent villages. As per the government decision, the tent villages/camps will remain operational until March 31, 2006. The government anticipates survivors returning to their own homes before then.

While working in these camps, the CWS teams are simultaneously building the capacities of local staff members who will be directly involved in psychosocial programs. Therefore, a workshop for staff is being finalized and will be held soon at the CWS Mansehra office.

The design and budget for communal kitchens has been finalized. 25 kitchens for Shohal Najaf camp are in the preparation process, and each 3x3 foot kitchen will be used by eight families.

The CWS hygiene team held separate meetings with men and women of the tent village. The participants were taught various participatory approaches for carrying out waste collection and hygiene programs in their respective clusters. These trained groups will also be responsible for the maintenance of the latrines in the tent village. The team also distributed locks for the women’s latrines, brooms, buckets for water storage and towels to the women in the tent village. The remaining residents will be provided with these items as well in the coming days. The team also took the initiative of painting the latrines to promote their use among children.

CWS carried out distributions in Batgram and Maira camp at the request of Hope Organization. The CWS field team distributed 219 shelter kits, 212 tents and 212 plastic sheets in the villages of Badal and Nika, union council Korori, Tehsil Oghi and district Mansehra. The field team carried out assessments in the following villages for further distributions: Nasurdi and Nika Amlok (union council Battal), Kundbala and Kundpanne (UC Chatter Plain), Tehsil and District Mansehra. The team also distributed 240 tokens to vulnerable families in Kundbala and Kundpanne villages (UC Chatter Plain), Tehsil and District Mansehra. Another team made an assessment visits to the Hassa Village, Tehsil Balakot.

As of December 15:
Total number of shelter kits distributed: 18,639; individuals assisted: 130,473
Total number of food packages distributed: 9,837; individuals assisted: 68,859

Meetings and visitors

CWS-Pakistan/Afghanistan, in collaboration with the Sphere Project, has arranged three half-day inter-agency workshops on Sphere Standards in Islamabad (December 16), Mansehra (December 20) and Muzzafarabad (December 22). The workshops will be attended by new staff of INGOs, local NGOs, government/army personnel, and local authorities and will focus on orienting the participants on basic Sphere principles and how to apply the standards, indicators and guidance notes in their program management/field work.

A shelter cluster meeting was held at the International Office for Migration Mansehra office on December 14. It was attended by various NGO representatives who shared the details of their interventions in the disaster zone.

An OCHA coordination meeting was held in Mansehra December 16 at which representatives from the district government and army officials made a presentation on camp management, water and sanitation, and health and education.

Visit the Web site of Church World Service-Pakistan/Afghanistan for regular updates.

Also, the Web site of the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum, which CWS is part of, is now operational and contains useful information about the NGO response to the earthquake.