PAKISTAN: IRC planning rehabilitation of infrastructure in flood-affected north

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

ISLAMABAD, 17 May 2005 (IRIN) - The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is planning to launch a comprehensive rehabilitation operation in parts of Pakistan's northern areas affected by recent floods and heavy snow. The operation will focus on the reestablishment of health facilities.

The region endured three months of heavy rains, snowfall, avalanches and landslides earlier this year. Over 450 people were reported killed with another 500 injured in the hilly terrain of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). There was extensive damage to public and private infrastructure.

"Fortunately no diseases outbreak has been reported in any of the affected areas so far but one cannot rule out this possibility in future," Mustafa Elkanzi, IRC's country directer in Pakistan, told IRIN on Tuesday in the capital, Islamabad.

"The summer is approaching and the remoteness of the area, poor health facilities, damaged roads and a shortage of medicines would make it impossible for local health facilities to handle any major disease outbreak," Elkanzi added.

The harsh winter left at least four million people in need of aid and more than 24,000 homes destroyed across the province, according to NWFP relief authorities. During the humanitarian relief campaign, the IRC distributed emergency food and non-food items in eight NWFP districts.

Now the emergency relief operation is over, there's a pressing need for the reconstruction of infrastructure, water supply systems, health and education facilities.

Earlier in March, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) launched a massive relief operation to provide tents and other shelter items to Afghan refugees living in camps throughout the NWFP.

The IRC has been providing humanitarian and rehabilitation assistance to Afghan refugees and their host communities in Pakistan for the past 25 years. The committee runs programmes ranging from health and education assistance to local capacity building and the provision of social services.

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