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  • Jun 24th, 2014
  • Comments Off on 423,666 take shelter in camps: NDMA statistics
After the launch of military operation 'Zarb-e-Azb' against militants in North Waziristan Agency (NWA), 423,666 people have fled their homes so far and taken shelter in temporary camps set up for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Bannu and DI Khan areas. According to data released by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), after the start of the operation on June 15, 2014, a total of 111,241 men, 133,722 women and 178,523 children, have left the war-torn NWA for safer places.

Earlier, the government assigned the task to the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) to make necessary rehabilitation arrangement for the IDPs, but now it has also decided to engage the NDMA in the process which is inline with the mandate of the organisation.

A total of 34,625 families, migrated from troubled area, have so far registered with NADRA in Bannu while approximately 1,100 families have arrived in DI Khan and 480 in Lakki Marwat district. The relief camps were immediately established at the onset of the operation. The main IDPs camp has been established in Bakakhel, Union Council in district Bannu of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. However, only few people have opted to live in the camps and the rest of the sizable number of people preferred to live with their relatives as per past practices. The team including senior civil and military officials is monitoring the IDPs camps to ensure that people are facilitated with all necessary arrangements.

The relief camps have been provided with all necessary facilities including the provision of shelter/ health and hygiene/ latrines, cooked food, electricity and mosque. Food and financial assistance is being rendered to the affected people at the time of registration at check points. NADRA mobile registration points have been put in place. Polio vaccination of entire displaced population and health check up of those in need is also being ensured at the check posts.

Moreover, free transport has been arranged for daily evacuation to bring the IDPs to relief camps while efforts are underway to expand the camps and make additional arrangements to facilitate the IDPs who wish to live or return to the camps. In this connection, a field hospital is also being set up jointly by the army and civil administration to meet the additional demand due to influx of approx 45,000 IDPs into the area. Food and cash distribution for the affected population is also being done in the area. The World Food Programme (WFP) has also established a food point in the area, with the approval of the federal government and their assistance is being largely appreciated. The NDMA has handed over additional 2,000 tents to the Federally Administrative Tribal Areas Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) for further distribution among the IDPs and additional NFIs are being made available to concerned agencies on need basis. The NDMA is now engaged with the ministry of SAFRON, FDMA, Provincial Disaster Management Authorty (PDMA) of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, Pakistan Army, Civil Administration and other partners to co-ordinate and implement the plan for efficient management of all IDPs issues.

The NDMA team led by member operations NDMA, Brigadier Mirza Kamran Zia has already been deployed in district Bannu, Khyber-Pakhtunkhua to monitor and facilitate the present status of IDPs situation and ensure provision of effective and timely relief assistance to the IDPs within and outside the camps.

A formation of Pakistan army has been tasked exclusively to support the civil administration to ensure smooth and efficient execution of the onerous task. The government, the armed forces and all the concerned departments as well as humanitarian partners are putting in their diligent efforts to mitigate the sufferings of IDPs.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2014


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