1.8 million at risk of winter weather in Pakistan

Citation

(2007), "1.8 million at risk of winter weather in Pakistan", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 16 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2007.07316aab.004

1.8 million at risk of winter weather in Pakistan

Islamabad, 4 October (Reuters) – At least 1.8 million people living in makeshift shelters and tents are at risk from the Himalayan winter a year after an earthquake ravaged northern Pakistan, the international aid agency Oxfam said on Wednesday.

The 7.6. magnitude quake on 8 October 2005, killed more than 73,000 people in northern Pakistan, a further 1,500 in Indian Kashmir and rendered more than three million destitute.

“A recent Oxfam survey of 17 earthquake-hit villages found that virtually all those who were living in tents lacked adequate protection against winter weather,” the aid agency said in a statement saying 1.8 million quake-affected people were at risk.

Before last winter, relief agencies had feared a second wave of deaths from cold and sickness among survivors living in makeshift shelters and insanitary camps, but the weather was mercifully mild.

Relief agencies fear the winter won’t be as kind for a second year running.

“With snow already falling, this winter seems to have arrived early,” said Farhana Faruqi Stocker of Oxfam International.

The Oxfam report termed the progress of recovery as being “patchy” and the pace of construction of housing and infrastructure as “slow”, compounded by administrative problems and corruption.

“When we see that one year after Hurricane Katrina, the world’s richest nation – the US – is struggling with the reconstruction of New Orleans, it is no surprise that Pakistan has faced difficulties in the recovery across a much bigger area and much more difficult terrain,” said Faruqi.

Among the host of problems facing relief organisations is one of determining the exact number of vulnerable people to plan proper relief activities.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and their local affiliate believe 66,000 families, with an average family comprising six members, living in temporary shelter are at risk, a number considerably less than that given by Oxfam.