Chowrangi

A UNHCR-chartered cargo jet delivered 120 tonnes of additional relief supplies for immediate distribution to those fleeing the fighting.

The aid plane arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday afternoon with 10,000 mosquito nets, 14,000 plastic sheets for emergency shelters, 1,500 plastic rolls to build walls and privacy screens in camps, and two portable warehouses from the refugee agency’s stockpiles in Dubai. The supplies were loaded onto seven trucks and taken to UNHCR’s warehouse in Peshawar, and then distributed to various sites hosting displaced people in North West Frontier Province.

Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) facilitated the emergency flight, as well as the provision of an additional 10,000 tents to UNHCR, for the emergency operation.

The airlifted consignment will bolster the thousands of relief supplies such as tents, kitchen sets, jerry cans, sleeping mats and blankets, either locally procured or from UNHCR’s existing stockpiles in Pakistan, which UNHCR is currently distributing alongside non-government partners and local authorities, as part of a joint UN response.

As of late Tuesday, a total of 501,496 displaced people from the new influx had been formally registered by authorities, with UNHCR’s help, since May 2. Of these new arrivals, 72,707 are staying in camps and 428,789 people are staying with relatives, friends or host communities – including locals who have opened their doors to receive people fleeing the fighting.

People are being registered in camps and in 38 registration points that have been established by the Directorate of Social Welfare with UNHCR’s help in Swabi, Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda, Kohat and Peshawar. More are being set up daily.

The Mardan, Sheikh Yasin, Sheikh Shahzad and Jalala camps are now full and people are being directed to other camps where there is room, such as Jalozai in Nowshera, or the soon to be opened Shah Mansoor site in Swabi. UNHCR site planners are assessing the suitability of land for additional camps, and working to improve conditions and capacity in existing ones.

On Tuesday, UNHCR field teams were also assessing conditions in the hundreds of spontaneous settlements that have sprung up in the districts of Mardan and Swabi – in schools, colleges, flour mills, stadiums, parks, private land and other sites – to identify the most urgent needs.

By: Ariane Rummery in Islamabad, Pakistan (from ReliefWeb)

Also check the extensive resource page to support Internally Displaced Persons from Swat Crisis

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