Pakistan: UN delivers food to 20,000 quake victims

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has begun distributing food for up to 20,000 survivors of the deadly earthquake that struck Pakistan’s southwest Baluchistan province late last month.

In the hardest-hit district of Ziarat, the agency is delivering fortified ready-to-eat biscuits.

Additionally, WFP is supplying almost 400 tons of wheat flour, beans, vegetable oil and salt, as a one-month ration, for 20,000 people in Ziarat and neighbouring Pishin district.

Almost 200 people have died, with hundreds more injured, in the 6.4 magnitude quake, whose epicentre was located in a mountainous area northeast of Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan.

UN agencies have carried out assessments to determine the humanitarian response, with six teams having visited dozens of villages over the past several days to analyze the impact of the strong tremors on the already poor and vulnerable population.

Temperatures in the high-altitude region are already very low and expected to drop even more with the approach of winter. The missions found that winterized tents, blankets, warm clothing, food, health services and restoration of drinking water are the main priorities.

The Pakistani military has set up camps in Ziarat, which are currently being used as storage depots, with four additional camps proposed in the district.