|TOP|World Vision (WV) has signed an agreement with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to distribute urgently needed food supplies to an estimated 46,610 Pakistan quake survivors until next spring.

The international Christian relief and development organisation is delivering food and needed supplies to quake victims in remote villages from Nov. 30, 2005 to April 2006. The recipients of the distribution will be from five high altitude villages in the Seron Valley of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

According to reports, the United Nations will devote 50 percent of its total cargo to transport 4,412 metric tons of food – including wheat flour, vegetable oil, lentils, and salt – which will be distributed in Jabbar Panjul, Jaburi, Sachan, Manda Gucha and Jacha, where the bitter Himalayan winter has already set in. About 40 percent of the remaining cargo space will house shelter and other items.

|AD|“World Vision is planning to extend the food aid to more families, keeping in mind the miseries of the survivors in this cold weather,” said Isabel Gomes, World Vision Zone Manager.

Adding to the food distress in the region was the timing of the massive South Asia quake, which hit when the maize and wheat harvest was underway. The Food and Agricultural Organisation estimates slightly more than 30 percent of the rice crop and nearly 75 percent of the maize crop have been lost.

As a result, many rural families are struggling from deprivation of their harvest and their inability to cultivate land for the next crop, forcing them to wait until next year to sow new seeds and yet another year to reap the crop. Loss of livestock is another food stress to survivors.

In response to the desperate food needs in the region, WV is distributing food kits containing 20 kilograms of wheat flour, 5 kg of sugar, 3 kg of lentils, 0.5 kg of tea, three liters of cooking oil and two packets of salt to families living in tents in Mansehra town and its adjoining areas.







Michelle Vu
Christian Today Correspondent