Pakistan: UN establishes contact with SWAT authorities to start early recovery as soon as possible

(Islamabad/New York, 24 August 2009): The United Nations has completed a high-level mission to Swat District to establish direct contact with the authorities. The mission, led by the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Mogwanja, aimed at identifying potential gaps and strengthening the provision of humanitarian assistance.

"We met district authorities and national and international non-governmental organisations, and established the need for early recovery activities to start as soon as possible," Mogwanja said. "So far the humanitarian community has distributed food and health kits but we want to expand our assistance."

The leaders of the various clusters - a group of UN agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) looking after a certain sector - gained a better understanding of the current situation and found that agriculture, education and health were the most important needs.

Due to the increased presence in the region, UNOCHA is planning to open a satellite office in Swat, which will work closely with the district authorities and other humanitarian actors on the ground.

Mr Mogwanja was accompanied by Dr Khalif Bile of WHO, Azim Zamair of WFP, Manuel Bessler of OCHA, Smaranda Popa of the Child Protection Sub-cluster and Syed Mohammed Ali of FAO.

For further information, please call: OCHA Pakistan:

Billi Bierling, mobile +92 300 850 2397, bierling@un.org; OCHA New York: Nicholas Reader, +1 212 963 4961, mobile +1 646 752 3117, reader@un.org

OCHA-Geneva: Vanessa Huguenin, +41 22 917 1891, huguenin@un.org

OCHA press releases are available at http://ochaonline.un.org or www.reliefweb.int

For more information about CERF, please see http://cerf.un.org