HUMANITARIAN COMMUNITY IN PAKISTAN LAUNCHES RESPONSE PLAN TO HELP THE VULNERABLE POPULATIONS IN NWFP AND FATA

(Islamabad/New York, 9 February 2010): The humanitarian community operating in Pakistan appeals for US $ 537 million to respond to the immediate needs of the vulnerable populations in the North-West of the country. These requirements are laid out in the Pakistan Humanitarian Response Plan (PHRP) for 2010 and cover a period of six months. The response plan was established in close consultation with all partners of the humanitarian community, including UN humanitarian agencies and national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), as well as the Government of Pakistan at provincial and federal levels.

"We would like to thank the federal and provincial authorities in Pakistan for their support in finalising the response plan for 2010. After this launch, we are expecting contributions from the international donor community, which will enable the humanitarian organisations in Pakistan to continue their essential assistance in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) forat least another six months," said the Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan, Martin Mogwanja.

The PHRP draws largely from the humanitarian experience of 2008 and 2009. It will be used to coordinate humanitarian activities and raise funds for the implementation of humanitarian projects. These projects will respond to the needs of the vulnerable Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who have fled hostilities in NWFP and FATA. The funds will also help support those who have returned to their areas of origin; those who never left them; and the families who opened their homes to host the internally displaced population.

Last year's response plan enabled the humanitarian community to reach more than four million people in need of assistance. More than 20 Member States, including Pakistan, which is one of the few countries financially contributing to its own response plan, donated to the humanitarian cause. At the height of the crisis in June 2009, these funds allowed the humanitarian community to support 35 IDP camps with a total population of around 250,000 IDPs. Furthermore, 4.3 million beneficiaries were provided with more than 330,000 metric tons of food, around half a million IDPs, inside and outside camps, received 15 litres of drinking water per day and more than 7,000kg of pulses were distributed to 30,000 farmers.

Main Humanitarian Activities Planned for 2010

In addition to the direct relief assistance to the IDPs, the main humanitarian activities in 2010 will be the distribution of food, the rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure (including private homes, schools and health facilities) and the assistance to farmers who lost their crops due to hostilities and displacement.

As a large part of the vulnerable and affected population will still be dependent on continuing food assistance, US $ 195 million will be required for food-related projects. This is the largest share of the requested funds. Activities addressing shelter and Non- Food Item (NFI) needs will require US $ 80 million; Health US $ 73 million; Community Restoration US $ 43 million; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) US $ 36 million; Agriculture and Education US $ 24 million each; Protection US $ 22 million; Nutrition US $ 17 million; Coordination US $ 9 million; Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) US $ 8 million; and Logistics US $ 2.5 million.

In 2009, a total of 3.1 million people were displaced from their homes in NWFP and FATA throughout the year. This number includes the 2.7 million people displaced from Malakand Division at the height of the crisis in summer 2009, and the hundreds of thousands of IDPs who fled their homes mainly in South Waziristan and other parts of FATA during the second half of the year.

"Considering that the number of IDPs from Orakzai Agency has risen nearly tenfold in the last two months, the emergency in Pakistan seems far from over. I therefore urge the international donor community to keep up their invaluable contributions to enable the humanitarians to continue assisting the people in need in Pakistan," Martin Mogwanja concluded.

For further information, please call:

OCHA Pakistan: Billi Bierling, mobile +92 300 850 2397, bierling@un.org;

OCHA New York: Stephanie Bunker, + 1 917 367 5126, mobile +1 347 244 2106, bunker@un.org;

OCHA-Geneva: Elizabeth Byrs, +41 22 917 2653, mobile +41 79 473 4570, byrs @un.org

OCHA press releases are available at http://pakistan.oneresponese.info or www.reliefweb.int

The mission of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors