14 October 2005

Bonn, Germany: The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is mobilizing Pakistani and international UN Volunteers to support relief activities following the 8 October earthquake that devastated northern Pakistan.

As part of the UN flash appeal for US $272 million to implement an international aid package launched on 11 October, an estimated US $1 million is earmarked for UNV. The funds will be used to place teams of UN Volunteers in the affected areas to help the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), other UN agencies and the Government of Pakistan strengthen the coordination of recovery and reconstruction efforts.

Pakistan’s National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), which has worked with UNV in the past, has launched a relief operation in the North-West Frontier (NWF) Province with some 3,000 volunteers assisting organizations in Mansehra district.

The latest unofficial figures from the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir and NWF Province put the death toll at well above 25,000 with many people still unaccounted for. Tens of thousands of people are injured, about one million are in need of medical care, and some 2.5 million people are homeless.

The epicentre of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake was located 95 kilometres northeast of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. Since the initial quake on Saturday, aftershocks and bad weather have hampered rescue and relief efforts. Fear of more earthquakes has forced some Pakistanis to sleep in the open, which has worsened the health conditions of the injured, including children and the elderly.

The UN System in Pakistan has responded to the immediate needs of the affected by supplying tents, blankets, medicine, food and water. International organizations such as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Médecins Sans Frontières, Oxfam and a host of countries are also responding to the disaster.

While international focus is on Pakistan, UN Volunteers are helping Guatemala recover from tropical storm Stan that ripped through Central America late last week, killing more than 1,000 people. In Indonesia, the Maldives and Sri Lanka, UN Volunteers continue to support on-going efforts to rebuild communities and livelihoods following the 2004 tsunamis.