100,000 Pakistani quake survivors leave camps for home, UN reports

Some 100,000 survivors of last October’s devastating earthquake in Pakistan have left temporary camps and returned to their ruined towns, villages and properties over the past month as the emergency phase of the massive relief operation begins to wind down, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) reported today.

Fifty-seven camps have so far been closed, while another 99 remain open for about 55,000 people yet to go home. “Inevitably, there will be some vulnerable people who cannot go home immediately for various reasons,” deputy UNHCR representative in Pakistan Michael Zwack said.

“Some have been orphaned, widowed or disabled; others have lost their land or come from towns like Balakot, which lies on major fault lines and has to be relocated. It is extremely important that these vulnerable people continue to be assisted until more permanent solutions are found for them,” he added.

To support the trend of returns, which began after the Government announced earlier this year that relief camps would start closing in March, UNHCR has provided $2.25 million to support the efforts of the inter-government International Organization for Migration (IOM) to facilitate the voluntary, safe and dignified return of the displaced.

The 8 October quake killed over 73,000 people, injured nearly 70,000 others and left millions more homeless.

Under an agreement signed last month, UNHCR will fund a significant portion of IOM’s part of the UN Action Plan to provide medical screening and transport facilities to quake survivors. The project will run until the end of August.

UNHCR is also funding the International Catholic Migration Commission to conduct vocational training programmes in some camps, targeting extremely vulnerable individuals in particular. Through courses like sewing, embroidery, plumbing and masonry, trainees should become more self-reliant upon return to their villages.