IBlurb: Heavy monsoon rains have caused mudslides and floods in the earthquake-affected areas of Pakistan, prompting the UN refugee agency and other organisations to support the local authorities in relocating affected villagers and those at risk.

ISLAMABAD, July 31 (UNHCR) – The monsoons are great levellers. It rots gear. Metals rust relentlessly. Clothes never dry completely. It was that way for Alexander the Great's expedition. And it most certainly remains true thousands of years later, judging by the heavy monsoon rains that have caused floods and mudslides in Pakistan’s earthquake-affected areas. After the preventive relocation of thousands of villagers in July, the UN refugee agency and its partners have been supporting a rapid response to the authorities’ effort to evacuate hundreds more affectees from additional endangered villages and camps.

Last week, heavy rainfall in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) changed the course of the Kunnar River and flooded Jahangira and Gul Deray, two villages near Kashtra/Ghari Habibullah camp – one of the relief camps remaining in NWFP. The two villages were submerged; three people are reportedly dead and four missing.

Up to 200 families are expected to be relocated by the District Coordination Office (DCO) to Jaba camp, an alternative, safe site being established away from the flood hazard. Kashtra camp was not directly affected, but is at risk should the river change its course again. As a result, the DCO will also be relocating the 109 families now at Kashtra camp to Jaba camp.

Jaba camp was a former relief camp that was closed after residents returned to their home villages earlier this year. It can accommodate an initial group of 400 families and has a natural freshwater source.

UNHCR – which was tasked to head an inter-agency response under the DCO’s lead – distributed essential relief items to the villagers and is currently developing the site at Jaba to absorb the relocated villagers.

Meanwhile, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (AJK), at least 12 people were killed in the Chela Bandi area of Muzaffarabad Town when a rain-triggered mudslide swept through a settlement on July 23. The authorities had repeatedly warned the people living in tents to move away from the area due to the risk of landslides, but they had decided not to move.

“The landslide moved through a tsunami wave of debris and mud downhill, through gaps between houses, and buried several tents,” said Werner Schellenberger, the senior physical site planner of UNHCR, whose staff was first on the ground after the accident.

Survivors were immediately relocated to shelters by the Camp Management Organization (CMO) in AJK. Since last week, some 300 people in 57 families have been moved to safety through CMO-coordinated transportation. Two army platoons tasked by Pakistan’s Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) are assisting the authorities to relocate more at-risk villagers into camps.

In Bagh, the DCO reported that 227 families were relocated last Thursday to a location near the District Headquarters due to monsoon flooding and the threat of mudslides in Huda Barri Nullah. The authorities are coordinating emergency assistance in shelter, food and relief items with the support of agencies, including UNHCR.

“UNHCR is currently responding to the request by the local governments to help in managing the emergency response to damages caused by the ongoing monsoon rains affecting camp populations and villagers. This is part of joint efforts by the government and the aid agencies to mitigate the risk of further displacement and avoid a major humanitarian crisis,” said Kilian Kleinschmidt, senior emergency coordinator of UNHCR’s earthquake operation in Pakistan.

He added, “We have also initiated a joint ERRA/inter-agency effort to prevent any potential crisis, through timely corrective action in villages and the camps during the rains and in preparation for the winter.”

As lead agency for camp management under the joint UN response to the earthquake, UNHCR provided the Pakistani authorities with material and technical support in relief camps in NWFP and AJK. More than 125,000 quake affectees have returned home and 97 camps have closed since March. Over 31,000 people now remain in 59 camps with 50 or more tents.

UNHCR is currently building the capacity of the authorities and other humanitarian agencies to take over camp management when it phases out of direct camp operations at the end of August.

 

Fatma Bassiouni
With Werner Schellenberger in Muzaffarabad and Patrick Mansour in Manshera