Successful MRDF Appeal as Pakistan Faces Fresh Crisis

As Monday marked 100 days since the devastating earthquake in northern Pakistan in October 2005, one of the UK’s leading aid agencies warns relief efforts are still struggling as the second humanitarian disaster looms.

|TOP|Oxfam International warned that survivors of the massive earthquake last year are still facing dangers and difficulties, as conditions for survivors in the official camps remain sorely inadequate against the harsh Himalayan winter.

The conditions of inhabitants in many of the spontaneous camps that have cropped up since the earthquake are worse, with many finding that most of their basic needs are not being met.

“It's 100 days since the earthquake struck and we're still in full lifesaving mode as this crisis shows no sign of abating. We've been very lucky that the heavy snowfalls have only just struck and the challenge now is to reach vulnerable people before it's too late," says Farhana Faruqi Stocker, Oxfam's Pakistan Country director.

The rudimentary and earthquake-damaged infrastructure, as well as the difficult Himalayan terrain, continue to present a massive challenge to local authorities and relief agencies in bringing aid to the scores of villages entirely inaccessible by road.

|QUOTE|Roads continue to be blocked by subsequent tremors and rainfall which have caused landslides, or by heavy snowfall.

Amid the despair there is a flicker of hope, however, as the Methodist Relief and Development Fund (MRDF) reported a huge response to its earthquake relief appeal.

Churches and individuals donors have already given the MRDF £250,000 towards providing shelter, water and hygiene facilities and counselling for earthquake survivors in South Asia through Action by Churches Together.

Sher Shaider, one of the survivors of October 2005 earthquake, was trained along with 1,500 other teachers by the ACT partner Church World Service (CWS) in disaster preparedness and in coping with their effects.

|AD|That training was put immediately into action when the disaster struck, enabling Sher to work in his own village providing first aid to the wounded and helping to evacuate damaged buildings.

Now Sher is helping survivors to cope with the harsh Pakistani winter. More than 180,000 people continue to live in inadequate conditions in tent villages with night temperatures sometimes plummeting as low as -12ºC.

CWS is continuing its operations in the mountainous northern regions at the epicentre of the earthquake, where it has become increasingly familiar with the impact of natural disasters.

“The area is subject to mudslides, flash floods and earthquakes. You name it, you get it in the north,” explains Martin Pervez, CWS Director.

MRDF Director, Kirsty Smith said: “The huge response to this appeal reminds us that we can rely on MRDF supporters to respond quickly and generously when disaster strikes.

"We are pleased to report that, despite devastation in the region, our partners are leading the way in providing relief and, most importantly, ensuring that people are prepared whenever the next crisis comes”.

The United Nations can only report less success, however, as its response continues to be severely hampered by a lack of pledges to the UN’s earthquake appeal fund. Barely half of the funds appealed for – USD 300 of the massive USD 549 required – have been gathered to date.

"The international community must support the Pakistani authorities and the UN to improve co-ordination and management of the relief effort," says Stocker.

"Internationally agreed minimum standards for camp management -- the Sphere standards -- must at least be reached and the transition from military to civilian responsibility must proceed carefully and sensitively."

The comments come as Oxfam warned yesterday of a second humanitarian disaster as people in smaller spontaneous camps continue to miss out on many of the aid provisions owing to confusion over responsibility for food distribution as well as other urgently needed items.

Oxfam has also been busy winterising the tents it provided as most tents rushed to the earthquake zone in the aftermath of the quake were unsuitable for winter conditions.

The charity warned, however, that the most vulnerable in the emergence of a second humanitarian disaster remain the children and the elderly trying to shelter in flimsy tents in remote regions above the snowline where access to aid deliveries has been difficult.

Oxfam urged an acceleration of the reconstruction planning and implantation in order to help earthquake survivors to rebuild their lives.