The Pakistan Floods RELIEF, RESILIENCE UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency & RECOVERY www.unhcr.org United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Special Edition P.O. Box1263 Diplomatic Enclave - II, UNHCR Quaid-e-Azam University Road, G-4 Islamabad, Pakistan The UN Refugee Agency Abbreviations & Acronyms TABLE OF CONTENTS ARC American Refugee Committee ATM Automated Teller Machine The Crisis at a glance .............................................................. 1 CCCM Camp Coordination & Camp Management CNIC Computerized National Identity Card Pictorial .................................................................................. 3 CRS Catholic Relief Service DCOs District Coordination Officer Flood Victim’sAccount .......................................................... 4 DRC Danish Refugee Council Crisis and UNHCR Engagement. ........................................... 5 FATA Federally Administered Tribal Area FDMA FATA Disaster Management Authority Camp Coordination & Camp Management ............................ 7 GBV Gender Based Violence GiZ German International Corporation Flood Victim’sAccount ......................................................... 9 GoP Government of Pakistan ICMC International Catholic Migration Commission QIPs ...................................................................................... 10 ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross IDPs Internally Displaced Peoples Emergency Shelter & NFI Provision ..................................... 11 IFRC The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Protection Response ............................................................. 13 IOM International Organization for Migration IRC International Rescue Committee The WATAN Scheme............................................................ 15 KPK Khyber Pakhtunkhwa MDM Medecins Du Monde International Coordination and Partnerships ............................................. 17 NCCWD National Commission for Child Welfare and Development NADRA National Database and Registration Authority FloodAffectedAfghan Refugees ......................................... 19 NDMA National Disaster Management Authority NFI Non-Food Items Contingency Preparedness and Challenges .......................... 21 NGOs Non-Government Organizations NRC Norwegian Refugee Council Unmet Needs ....................................................................... 24 ORS One Room Shelter Funding Requirements ........................................................ 25 PCCWD Provincial Commission for Child Welfare and Development PDMA Provincial Disaster Management Authority PKR Pakistani Rupees QIPs Quick Impact Projects RPA Rapid Protection Assessment SAFRON Ministry of States & Frontier Regions SHARP Society for Human Rights & Prisoners Aid Flood Update 2010-2011 SRSP Sarhad Rural Support Program July 2011 SWD Society Welfare Department TDH Terre Des Homme T-Shelter Transitional Shelter UNAIDS United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS Copyright © 2011 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNDAF United Nations Development Assistance Framework UNDP United Nations Development Program Editorial: David Nthengwe, Michelle Berg, Yukiko Koyama, Uzma Irum, UNHCR Country Office Islamabad, Pakistan UNFPA United Nations Population Fund Design: Aqeel Zahoor, UNHCR Country Office Islamabad, Pakistan UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Photos: Jason Tanner, Ariane Rummery, Humaira Mehboob, Alixandra Fazzina, David Nthengwe, Dunya Aslam Khan Published: UNHCR, P.O. Box 1263, Diplomatic Enclave-II, Quaid-e-Azam University Road G-4 Islamabad, Pakistan UNICEF United Nations Children Fund UNOCHA United Nations Officer for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs UNOP’S United Nations Office for Project Services WFP World Food Program WHO World Health Organization UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR/A. Shahzad in the provision of non-food items. The agency mobilised its experts from across the world to Pakistan. It also assisted flood affected refugees whom few agencies considered in the relief efforts. UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR's assistance reached in excess of 2 million beneficiaries in and outside organised camps, as well as those returning home after the floodwaters began to recede. But this figure is a small success in the face of the millions that needed assistance and the many who still do. UNHCR's capacity to respond was severely tested by the fact that the emergency occurred in areas where the agency and other major actors did not have a presence. Contrary to expectations that the emergency would not last beyond three months, the disaster turned into a 'slow moving tsunami', as the flood waters spread, and the disaster continued to affect more and more districts.As one area was affected and people sought refuge in camps, in another, the flood waters were receding, triggering returns. UNHCR's efforts were often split between managing existing camps, consolidating camps and organizing camp closure activities while providing relief assistance. No agency was prepared for the magnitude of the disaster, and all agencies struggled to manage the effects of the continuing disaster. THE PAKISTAN FLOODS Although the GoP announced the end of the emergency on 31 January 2011, the emergency phase was extended for Sindh and Balochistan where the floodwaters had yet to recede. With people still RELIEF, RESILIENCE AND RECOVERY unable to return home, assistance to the displaced remaining in camps would continue into the first half of 2011 in these two provinces. Beginning in late July 2010, the flood waters in what was to In the shelter sector, UNHCR's strategy has been to address the needs of the most vulnerable families become Pakistan's worst natural disaster began to spread. Homes, businesses within the affected communities. Up until March 2011, UNHCR provided temporary shelter to and thousands of acres of farmland were swiftly inundated, leaving millions of vulnerable families that had lost their homes. By the end of March, the GoP was indicating that it UNHCR/ Duniya A. Khan people internally displaced and thousands of Afghan refugees homeless. The wanted agencies to construct solid houses that were water resistant and which would withstand harsh havoc wreaked on people's lives was immeasurable, and, their suffering weather. While the shift in policy to provide more durable housing was welcome, the move created continues. One year after the floods, UNHCR looks back to find modest, but its own challenges. The needs of more than half of UNHCR's projected shelter beneficiaries have critical successes, while we are starkly reminded of the unmet humanitarian yet to be met. needs. One year on, more than 500Afghan refugee families affected by the floods remain in a limbo, unsure The efforts of the Government of Pakistan (GoP) to lead the emergency response where to settle. Like their Pakistani neighbours, the Afghans' homes and livelihoods at the Azakhel programme were commendable. Despite the scale of the disaster and the huge refugee village were washed away by the floods, leaving them with nothing. humanitarian needs that increased by the day, the government remained focused on saving its citizens. While UNHCR has engaged in constructive discussions with the GoP at all levels of administration, the solution to the situation in Azakhel remains elusive, leaving already distressed families without At the invitation of the Government of Pakistan, UNHCR has been deeply proper shelter and livelihoods a year after the initial devastation. involved in the relief operation from the onset of the floods, leading the inter- agency efforts in protection, camp coordination and camp management, and UNHCR is grateful to the cluster members, other UN agencies and other partners for their robust emergency shelter. UNHCR has been present in Pakistan for more than three support in seeking solutions for flood-displaced communities. decades assisting Afghan refugees; the flood emergency, as with the earthquake I would like to thank donors for their steadfast and generous contributions to this unprecedented of 2005, was an opportunity to express our gratitude to the people of Pakistan for effort. granting refuge toAfghans who fled war in their homeland. Finally, I would like to pay tribute to the courage, resilience and generosity of the people of Pakistan. UNHCR's efforts were focused on immediate lifesaving activities in the four Confronted with enormous suffering and devastation they continued to find ways to carry on and to flood affected provinces - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Balochistan, and help others in greater need. Sindh. The UN refugee agency supported the GoP response in its role as cluster co- lead Mengesha Kebede in protection together with the International Rescue Committee as NGO co-lead, UNHCR Country Representative and as lead for camp coordination and camp management, and shelter, as well as Islamabad, Pakistan I II 3 Year In Review 2009 FLOODS IN PAKISTAN: ONE YEARYear ON In Review 2009 4 According to the Government of Pakistan or submerged under water, while schools, (GoP), the disaster claimed the lives of health, and water facilities were weakened UNHCR more than 1,600 people and affected more or completely destroyed. The UN Refugee Agency than 18 million others in four provinces, leaving behind a trail of destruction in 78 of In KPK, of the 84 Afghan refugee villages, the 120 districts that make up Pakistan. at least 16 were flooded. The destruction at The Crisis at a glance Azakhel refugee