PAKISTAN – Hyderabad Hub Responds to Growing Shelter Needs in Southern Sindh – As floodwaters recede in the north and centre of the country leaving devastation in their wake, thousands more families are facing displacement in southern Sindh as Manchar Lake in Sindh’s Dadu and Jamshoro districts starts to overflow.
IOM has opened a new hub in Hyderabad to speed up distribution of shelter material and non-food relief items in the area. The hub has already distributed more than 11,000 tarpaulins, over 10,000 jerry cans, some 11,500 blankets and more than 2,000 ropes to displaced families in Thatta, Dadu, Badin, Jamshoro and Hyderabad districts.
The relief items were donated by USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and distributed through IOM local partners Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO), Action for Humanitarian Development (AHD) and John Social Welfare Organization (JSWO).
“The Hyderabad hub brings the Emergency Shelter Cluster and our logistics capacity closer to the people who most need our help as the epicentre of this vast disaster continues to move south,” says IOM Regional Representative for West and Central Asia Hassan Abdel Moneim Mostafa.
IOM coordinates the efforts of the “cluster” – a group of over 70 international and local aid agencies - providing emergency shelter and other non food relief items, including tents, plastic sheeting, bedding and household goods to flood victims.
“Cluster agencies have managed to get emergency shelter to over 300,000 households or 2.1 million people since early August, but the needs remain staggering, particularly in Sindh, where we are still only reaching a small fraction of the families who need a roof over their heads,” says Abdel Moneim Mostafa.
According to the government’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), over 1.8 million houses have been damaged or destroyed by the floodwaters nationwide. Using a conservative estimate of seven people per household, this would suggest that as many as 10 million people may still be without basic shelter from wind, rain and sun.
But international consignments of shelter aid are continuing to arrive in the country. IOM has now taken delivery of 27 flights carrying consignments from USAID / OFDA, UK / DFID, the European Union, the UN and Americares. Yesterday it took delivery of 3,000 tents donated to NDMA by China.
New funding is also coming in. IOM’s August flood appeal for US$38 million is now 68 per cent funded at US$26 million. Its new appeal, which will be released in New York later today as part of the Floods Emergency Response Plan (FERP), will seek to more than triple the original amount. Details of the IOM appeal will appear on the IOM website by 7.00 am Islamabad time tomorrow (Saturday.)
For more information on IOM's activities in Pakistan, to download IOM funding appeals or to donate to IOM's flood response, please go to: http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/pakistan.
For information on the Emergency Shelter Cluster, please go to: http://sites.google.com/site/shelterpak2010/.
For additional information please contact IOM Islamabad. Saleem Rehmat, Tel: +92.3008560341, Email: srehmat@iom.int or Chris Lom, Tel: +92.300 852 6357, Email: clom@iom.int
SOUTH KOREA – New Funding to Support IOM Earthquake Response in Haiti - IOM's emergency response to the earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January has received a USD 3 million contribution from Community Chest Korea, a private umbrella fundraising organization in South Korea. The donation to IOM is the largest sum Community Chest Korea has ever awarded to an international organization.
IOM will use the funding to provide temporary shelter, non-food items and community centre solutions to 767 internally displaced families in Léogâne and surrounding areas to enable their return, relocation and resettlement. According to the Haitian government, 80 per cent of the city of Léogâne had been destroyed in the quake.
In addition to the transitional shelters, two community centres will be built and furnished in order to help the families start rebuilding their lives. Each family will also receive a hygiene kit, a kitchen set, mosquito nets, flashlight, sleeping mats, plastic sheeting and jerry cans.
Across Haiti, more than 313,000 homes were destroyed in the earthquake. As a result, 1.25 million people are currently living in organized or spontaneous settlements in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, or residing with host families around the country.
Eight months on, as the annual hurricane season peaks, the
humanitarian need is particularly acute.
Many families are in a state of desperation having lost their homes
and livelihoods and having amassed large debts because of the
quake. The hurricane season brings with it the added danger of
again exposing the population living in flimsy tents and
shelters.
Since January, IOM has been working with partners on the provision
of shelter and non-food relief assistance to the displaced. The
challenge now is help prepare them to leave the settlements and
find more suitable accommodation. The transitional shelters,
designed to be used for two or three years, should provide a useful
bridge in the transition out of settlements.
For more information, please contact June Lee, IOM Seoul Tel. +82.10.9252.7771, Email: jlee@iom.int Leonard Doyle, IOM Port-au-Prince Tel + 509 3702-5066, Email: ldoyle@iom.int
