PAKISTAN: Acute respiratory infections increasing among quake survivors, 16/Dec/05
MUZAFFARABAD, 16 December (IRIN) - Sitting in his bed in a field hospital, Safir, 3, is coughing heavily, while his mother, Meerjan, gives him water to soothe the outbursts. The reason is pneumonia, say doctors at the field hospital run by the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: World Bank approves US $400 million for earthquake recovery, 16/Dec/05
ISLAMABAD, 16 December (IRIN) - The World Bank on Thursday approved an emergency credit of about US $400 million to support the earthquake recovery and reconstruction efforts in Pakistan over the next three years. ... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: Special refuge for vulnerable quake victims, 15/Dec/05
HATTIAN, 15 December (IRIN) - There is something oddly comforting about the sight of eight-year-old Muhammad Iqbal, crying. The child earthquake survivor is weeping not from pain, hunger or cold, but because he has just been dismissed during a cricket game being played at a... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: UNHCR sets up new camps for quake survivors, 15/Dec/05
MUZAFFARABAD, 15 December (IRIN) - The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is setting up new improved camps for thousands of survivors of the South Asian earthquake in Pakistani-administered Kashmir to help relieve pressure on existing sites. ... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: Survivors outside official quake camps need winterised tents, 14/Dec/05
MUZAFFARABAD, 14 December (IRIN) - More than two months after the devastating earthquake that hit northern Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, thousands of survivors still live in non-winterised shelters, as night-time temperatures drop below zero, even in low-lying areas.... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: UNODC to launch HIV/AIDS prevention programme in prisons, 13/Dec/05
ISLAMABAD, 13 December (IRIN) - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is preparing to launch a drug abuse and HIV/AIDS prevention programme in Pakistani prisons by early 2006. ... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: Tenant quake survivors angry at lack of compensation, 12/Dec/05
KOHISTAN, 12 December (IRIN) - Dotted lines, depicting unmettalled roads, wind across maps of the little known district of Kohistan. In reality, these roads are nothing more than rough tracks, surrounded by wilderness in an area where tiny villages and hamlets are scattered at... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: Thousands still without basic shelter two months after quake, 9/Dec/05
MACHIARA VALLEY, 9 December (IRIN) - Thousands of earthquake survivors are still without shelter more than two months on. The earthquake, which killed over 80,000 people, left an estimated 3.5 million survivors homeless. The exact figure of homeless survivors is not known, said Darren... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: Dire need for clean water in many quake villages, 8/Dec/05
MANCHIARA VALLEY, 8 December (IRIN) - Hundreds of villages in northern Pakistan are without water after the October 8 earthquake that killed over 80,000 people and left 3.5 million without shelter, triggered landslides and split mountains, leaving natural springs dry and breaking water... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: Poor health conditions at emergency quake camps, 8/Dec/05
ISLAMABAD, 8 December (IRIN) - Health experts have expressed grave concern over unsanitary conditions at over 1,000 spontaneous camps housing earthquake survivors in parts of northern Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: Radio to raise health awareness among quake survivors, 7/Dec/05
ISLAMABAD, 7 December (IRIN) - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has teamed up with Pakistan's Ministry of Environment to launch a series of radio programmes to promote health and hygiene awareness among quake survivors, officials said on Wednesday.... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: Mountain experts deliver food to remote communities, 7/Dec/05
KAGHAN, 7 December (IRIN) - Amid the steep, snow-clad slopes, small teams of mountain experts equipped with backpacks, anoraks and trekking gear, make their way along the footpaths towards isolated communities of earthquake survivors that desperately await them.... Full Report... Email Report

GLOBAL: UN appeals for US $4.7 billion in life-saving aid, 2/Dec/05
NEW YORK, 2 December (IRIN) - The high US$4.7 billion price tag on the United Nations latest global appeal, is because there are currently a large number of humanitarian operations and natural disasters, according to Jan Egeland, the UNs under-secretary-general for humanitarian... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: UNHCR suspends assisted Afghan repatriation for winter, 2/Dec/05
ISLAMABAD, 2 December (IRIN) - The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced on Friday that it would temporarily close its Afghan voluntary repatriation operation from Pakistan for a winter break from 20 December till the end of February 2006.... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: Quake survivors keep dreams alive despite winter closing in, 1/Dec/05
NEELUM VALLEY, 1 December (IRIN) - Hameeda Bibi, 37, hums cheerfully as she carefully combs and braids the hair of her daughters, Aziza, 11, and Kulsoom, five.... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: Big Afghan refugee camp to close, 1/Dec/05
ISLAMABAD, 1 December (IRIN) - Pakistani authorities are soon to close the large, well-established Jalozai Afghan refugee camp, home to 120,000 people and located in the Nowshera district of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), some 140 km northwest of the Pakistani... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: New quake patients pour into hospitals, 30/Nov/05
MANSEHRA, 30 November (IRIN) - In scenes of panic reminiscent of the first, chaotic post-quake days, doctors at Mansehra's district headquarters hospital on Tuesday morning surround a small child who has just been brought in. The toddler's lips, like his hands, are blue and his... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: More winterised shelter needed urgently in quake zone, 30/Nov/05
ISLAMABAD, 30 November (IRIN) - With the onset of winter conditions in much of northern Pakistan and hundreds of people pouring daily into medical facilities in the region with cold-related problems, health officials have stressed the urgent need to upgrade the living conditions of... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: Kagan communities at landslide and flood risk, 29/Nov/05
MUZAFFARABAD, 29 November (IRIN) - Parts of at least 12 villages in Pakistan's quake zone could be wiped out by landslides and floods and must be evacuated, a top geologist and United Nations consultant advising the Pakistani government on landslides, warned on Tuesday. ... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: UNICEF launches water and sanitation project in quake zone, 29/Nov/05
ISLAMABAD, 29 November (IRIN) - The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and the government of Pakistani-administered Kashmir have jointly launched a new US $8.2 million project to rehabilitate rural water supply systems and improve sanitation in the two worst quake-affected... Full Report... Email Report