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Deputy High Commissioner Wendy Chamberlin visits quake zone in Pakistan
17 April 2006
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, April 17
– UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner Wendy Chamberlin started her six-day mission to
Pakistan on Sunday with a visit to Muzaffarabad, where the pace of returns is
picking up six months after the earthquake.
Addressing journalists at Thori Park camp in Muzaffarabad, Chamberlin said,
“UNHCR has been here in your country for over 26 years, helping refugees from
Afghanistan. With this quake it was Pakistani people who needed our help. UNHCR
was privileged to assist with all of its resources the Pakistani people who have
been so kind to their own neighbours, working with us to help Afghan refugees.
UNHCR was one of the first agencies on the ground responding to the quake.
Relief supplies were brought in from our regional warehouses and airlifted to
the country through NATO.”
Six months on, with winter coming to an end and following the Pakistan
authorities’ announcement that relief camps would start closing in March, quake
survivors have begun returning home. More than 80,000 camp dwellers have already
gone back to rebuild their homes in the last month, including more than 25,000
from Muzaffarabad alone.
As lead agency for camp management in this operation, UNHCR has been supporting
the Pakistani government in the running of the temporary relief camps set up for
earthquake survivors. With 132 emergency staff, and 55 mobile teams funded by
the European Commission for Humanitarian Affairs (ECHO) and UK's Department for
International Development (DFID), the agency is currently assisting the
Pakistani authorities in 112 relief camps for over 73,000 quake survivors.
“What UNHCR wants is what the quake survivors want for themselves. They want to
go home to their villages,” said Chamberlin after talking to several families in
the relief camps. “We are working with various agencies like IOM to facilitate
transport and return. UNHCR will continue to assist in the transitional phase,
however, the long-term response will fall to other agencies.”
Chamberlin, a former US Ambassador to Pakistan, is making her first visit to
Pakistan since becoming UNHCR’s Deputy High Commissioner in 2004. She began her
Muzaffarabad trip on Sunday by visiting the Neelum Valley, commonly referred to
as the “crushed valley”, where she got a first-hand look at the level of
destruction caused by the quake’s landslides.
She then toured two of Muzaffarabad’s relief camps. In Jalalabad Park camp she
spoke to families who are scheduled to return home on Monday and heard their
views on return. She also discussed the ongoing challenges in the affected areas
with quake survivors, government officials and aid workers in Thori Park camp.
This week, the Deputy High Commissioner’s agenda will focus on the future of
Afghan refugees in Pakistan, where UNHCR has been helping the government to care
for millions of Afghan refugees since late 1979. She is expected to meet with
senior government officials and the donor community in Islamabad. She will also
meet with Afghan refugees in Peshawar and send off a convoy repatriating to
Afghanistan before concluding her mission on Friday.
Media Contact: Ms. Fatma Bassiouni, Mobile: 0300 8564 350
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