HIGHLIGHTS
• 280 dead after 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes Pakistan.
• Health and education concerns for vulnerable children in quake-affected areas.
• CERF allocation to support 45,000 families of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with lifesaving health, water, sanitation, shelter, protection, food, education, and nutrition services.
• Cash Transfer Programming offers freedom and dignity of choice in humanitarian crises.
QUAKE FIGURES
Casualties 280
Houses Damaged 107,389
Schools Damaged 1,426
Tents distributed 47,054
Blankets distributed 80,088
Funds released for affected in Kyber Pakhtunkhwa $104.65 m
Families compensated for housing damages in Khyber Paktunkhwa 60,061
Source:
National Disaster Management Authority,
Provincial Disaster Management Authority
HUMANITARIAN FUNDING
433.8 million requested (US$)
60 % funded
$260.1 million received as of November
7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes North-West Pakistan
Quake-affected areas jolted by multiple aftershocks
A powerful earthquake struck Badakshan Province in Afghanistan on 26 October, and has affected thousands of people across a large area of North-West Pakistan. According to the US Geological Service the magnitude 7.5 quake struck at 09:09 (UTC), was 196 kilometers (121 miles) deep, and the epicenter was 82 kilometers southeast of Feyzabad, Afghanistan in the Hindu Kush mountain range. Considerable shaking was felt in Khyber Paktunkhwa (KP), the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Pakistan Administered Kashmir, Punjab, and Balochistan as well as in the capital Islamabad.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department has recorded over 120 aftershocks to date, which have resulted in further damage to already weakened structures in some areas. Aftershocks and recent rainfall in the earthquake affected areas have resulted in land slides, restricting the access of large relief vehicles to some areas.
Rain and snowfall aggravate situation in earthquake-hit areas
The areas of Kalam, Malam Jabba, Miandam, Osho, Gabral and Marghuzar in the Swat district have received the first snowfall of the winter season, exacerbating the living conditions of those in the earthquake-affected areas. Snowfall is a generally welcome event in these tourist destinations – attracting thousands of vacationers and winter-sport enthusiasts every year. This year, however, locals are praying for the snowfall to stop. Many have been forced to take shelter in partially destroyed houses to escape from the snow and the accompanying rainfall, erecting plastic sheets around the structures to off-set freezing winds and below-zero temperatures.
Rainfall in some of the affected areas is making the removal of debris from houses difficult, and is resulting in restricted access to remote areas due to landslides blocking the roads. The affected population require tarps and plastic sheets to store the food rations they are receiving and keep them safe from the rain.
Heavy rains and snowfall have made access of relief goods to high-altitude areas particularly difficult, especially in District Shangla, including Olandar, Spin Ghar, Shangla Top and Kafir Banda, and parts of Gilgit and Baltistan. Bad weather conditions have effectively grounded helicopters taking part in relief operations. Locals in these areas are facing a shortage of winterized tents and medicines. If the heavy snowfall continues, health workers fear an epidemic of cold-related diseases including pneumonia and throat and chest infections.
Children and the elderly in the affected-areas are especially vulnerable to illness triggered by the severe cold. In the case of such an outbreak, the lack of access and unavailability of medicines could potentially claim more lives than the earthquake.