US embassy cable - 05ISLAMABAD16190

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ISLAMABAD 016190 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA AND EB 
DEPT - PLEASE PASS TO USAID 
KABUL - PLEASE PASS TO CFC-A 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/28/2015 
TAGS: AEMR, EAGR, EAID, ECIN, ECON, MASS, PGOV, PK, PREF, PREL, SENV, AESC, UN, Earthquake 
SUBJECT: PAKISTAN EARTHQUAKE:  UN TRYING TO GET UP TO SPEED 
 
REF: ISLAMABAD 16140 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY:  Mission staff with direct interaction with 
the UN's earthquake relief effort - from the team leader for 
USAID's Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to emboffs 
attending UN sectoral cluster groups -- characterize the UN 
response thus far as "a day late and a dollar short," with 
improvements coming slowly.  Post gives UNICEF, the World 
Food Program (WFP), UNHCR, and Office for the Coordination of 
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) relatively good marks, but the UN 
Joint Logistics Center (UNJLC) and UN Humanitarian Air 
Service (UNHAS) have gotten more mixed reviews.  As the 
resident UN representative in Pakistan has no/no background 
in emergency relief operations, post believes that the UN 
should immediately appoint an experienced disaster relief 
coordinator to manage its humanitarian assistance programs in 
Pakistan. END SUMMARY 
 
UN Helicopter Support 
--------------------- 
 
2. (C) From the beginning of the relief effort following the 
October 8 earthquake, U.S. military planners have worked 
hand-in-glove with Government of Pakistan (GOP) civilian and 
military authorities, with U.S. helicopters flying relief 
supplies to affected areas shortly after the earthquake hit. 
In contrast, twenty days after the disaster, many have 
wondered what happened to the promised UN helicopters, 
despite well-publicized UN promises to provide significant 
additional airlift capacity unfulfilled.  UNHAS has offered 
twenty MI-8 and six or eight MI-26 helicopters, but DART is 
skeptical that UNHAS can fund so many aircraft, noting that 
one MI-26 costs $11,000/hour to operate, not including the 
cost of the fuel.  DART does credit UNHAS's newly-arrived 
coordinator (a former U.S. Air Force officer) with doing a 
good job setting up a joint air operations center that meshes 
well with existing operations led by Pakistan military and 
CENTCOM's Disaster Assistance Center-Pakistan (DAC).  The 
Embassy's Office of Defense Representative-Pakistan (ODRP) 
also noted that UNHAS is close to finalizing an agreement 
with the Pakistan Air Aviation to set up a forward operating 
base in Abbotabad. 
 
Logistic Coordination 
--------------------- 
 
3.  (C)  The UNJLC has been and continues to be slow in 
becoming operational; some staff believe that UNJLC should 
have helped get UN helicopters here faster.  The World Food 
Program (WFP) is working to maximize the use of existing 
helicopters by purchasing a fleet of 90 30-ton trucks and 100 
10-ton trucks to transit supplies to areas accessible by 
road, in order to free up helicopters to supply the most 
isolated areas. 
 
Nutrition, Health Care and Education 
------------------------------------ 
 
4.  (C)  WFP deserves high marks for quickly opening its 
warehouses in Afghanistan and sending trucks with high energy 
biscuits to affected areas.  WFP has not updated its initial 
estimate of providing food for 1 million people; some experts 
believe the true figure is actually between 2 and 2.5 
million.  WFP must also compile information on how many 
farmers are harvesting crops and planting new ones, which 
will determine how much food will be needed in the spring. 
 
5.  (C)  On health care and education, the World Health 
Organization is doing a good job.  With Pakistan's already 
underdeveloped health system in the North West Frontier 
Province (NWFP) and Pakistan-controlled Azad Jammu Kashmir 
(AJK) shattered by the earthquake, DART wonders whether the 
GOP will be able to meet enormous needs over the long term. 
DART has observed some disconnects, such as patients being 
evacuated from Muzaffarabad even though hospital space was 
still available there.  UNICEF appeared to be working well 
with the GOP to set up schools. 
 
Shelter and Camp Management 
---------------------------- 
 
6.  (U)  UNHCR, which leads the Camp Management cluster has 
spent $7.6 million from its reserves to fly in over 860 tons 
of relief supplies including 15,000 winterized  tents.  UNHCR 
has been working closely with the GOP to establish camps for 
earthquake survivors, but the difficult terrain in the areas 
directly affected by the earthquake has made siting camp 
locations difficult.  Of the sixty sites suggested by the 
GOP, UNHCR found that two-thirds did not meet UNHCR 
standards.  UNHCR is working in nine camps, with a potential 
capacity of over 30,000. UNHCR is also in the process of 
identifying the locations of the many informal, makeshift 
camps in the earthquake-affected area, lending a hand to 
organize and assist the larger ones.  UNHCR has offered 
technical assistance to the GOP for the camps the government 
proposes to establish in Islamabad and outside the area 
affected by the earthquake, but will not play a role in the 
management of these camps.  DART team members have noted that 
UNHCR/Geneva is still debating whether UNHCR (vice the 
International Organization for Migration) should assist 
internally-displaced persons; this debate could delay UNHCR 
actions. 
 
Information Coordination 
------------------------ 
 
7.  (U) DART appreciated OCHA's efforts to set up 
Humanitarian Information Centers (HICs), which provide good 
demographic, statistical, and mapping information.  One HIC 
is already running in Muzaffarabad, and two others slated for 
Mansehra and Bagh. 
 
Hit-or-Miss Coordination with the GOP 
------------------------------------- 
 
8.  (SBU) Continuing a pattern post flagged early in the 
crisis, no GOP representative attended the UN's October 27 
Camp Management Cluster or Shelter Cluster meetings.  The 
government's failure to actively participate in this and 
other UN cluster group meetings has been a continuing source 
of frustration to the UN and its NGO partners, many of which 
do not have sufficient experience with the GOP bureaucracy to 
know how things get things done here. 
 
Burning Through UN Funding 
-------------------------- 
 
9.  (C) With only one-third of the UN's original flash 
funded, DART noted that WFP is already $40 million in the 
red, UNICEF $29 million in the red and UNHAS was also deficit 
spending. 
Comment 
------- 
 
10.  (C)  Comment:  At best, the UN's coordination on the 
ground has earned only middling marks three weeks into relief 
operations.  In many sectors, the UN has struggled to 
identify and establish effective working relationships with 
GOP contacts.  The UN's lackluster performance to date stems 
primarily from a deficit of emergency coordination expertise 
and leadership. Resident UN Representative Jan Vanderhoosle 
had only been in office a month before the October 8 
earthquake, arriving in Pakistan after spending seven years 
at UNHQ in New York.  He has no/no emergency coordination 
experience.  Post believes that the U.S. must strongly push 
the UN to send an experienced expert in disaster coordination 
to lead the UN effort here.  One name mentioned with approval 
by the UK's Department for Internatioanl Development (and 
which post would endorse) is Kevin Kennedy. 
CROCKER