Refugees International: Missions: Pakistan: December Assessment of Next Steps in Earthquake Response

Home About Us Donate Where We Work Issues Blog

Pakistan: December Assessment of Next Steps in Earthquake Response

Pakistan 2005: A woman in her tent after the earthquake

12/13/2005

Refugees International is conducting a humanitarian assessment mission to the earthquake damaged areas in Pakistan from Dec. 9-15. Farooq Kathwari, the chairman of RI’s board, is leading the assessment. Kathwari, the president, CEO and chairman of Ethan Allen Inc., is a refugee from Kashmir.

The RI team is focusing on the best strategies for dealing with the extensive internal displacement caused by the October earthquake. In meetings with government leaders, officials from UN and relief organizations and victims of the earthquake, RI is focusing on these major issues:

Preparations for population movements to lower altitudes as winter sets in.
The level of coordination among national, local, UN and humanitarian agencies, particularly in terms of resource allocation.
The transition from emergency relief to rehabilitation and development so that people can rebuild and return to their homes and villages as soon as possible. School reconstruction is a particularly important to rebuilding communities.

“In the face of huge difficulties shelter and food are reaching the many of the devastated areas,” Kathwari said. “Even as the relief efforts accelerate, it is time to start planning for ways to integrate relief into longer term rebuilding programs in the earthquake zones in Pakistan.” The RI team will also include Frank Wisner, a former U.S. ambassador to India.

An RI mission to Pakistan in mid-November found that relief activities have improved considerably after a slow start. The Pakistani military has played a particularly important role in organizing and delivering aid. However, the earlier RI assessment highlighted several areas of concern—the inefficient use of helicopters, poor camp management and a shortage of agencies to deliver food and deal with water and sanitation problems. The December mission will follow up on these earlier findings.