US embassy cable - 05ISLAMABAD16741

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ISLAMABAD 016741 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE ALSO PASS TO USAID 
USAID/W FOR A/AID ANDREW NATSIOS, JBRAUSE 
DCHA/OFDA KISAACS, GGOTTLIEB, MMARX, RTHAYER, BDEEMER 
AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA 
SOUTH ASIA RESPONSE MANAGEMENT TEAM 
SOUTH ASIA EARTHQUAKE TASK FORCE 
DCHA/FFP FOR JONATHAN DWORKEN 
ANE DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR MARK WARD 
BANGKOK FOR OFDA SENIOR REGIONAL ADVISOR TOM DOLAN 
KATHMANDU FOR OFDA REGIONAL ADVISOR WILLIAM BERGER 
ROME PASS FODAG 
GENEVA FOR RMA AND NKYLOH 
NSC FOR JMELINE 
EUCOM FOR POLA/J3/J4/J5 
BRUSSELS FOR USAID PLERNER 
NEW YORK FOR TMALY 
SECDEF FOR SOLIC/PKHA, USDP/J3 
JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC FOR J3/J4/J5 
HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE FOR J3/J5 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, AEMR, ASEC, MASS, ECON, KMDR, KPAO, OIIP, OPRC, PGOV, PREL, PK, Earthquake 
SUBJECT: PAKISTAN - EARTHQUAKE:  FIELD VISIT OF DEPUTY 
DIRECTOR GREG GOTTLIEB 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
1.    From November 2 through 9, Deputy Director of the 
Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) Greg 
Gottlieb visited Pakistan to work with USAID Disaster 
Assistance Response Team (DART) on developing programming and 
staffing plans for next approximately 150 days of the 
earthquake emergency.  Mr. Gottlieb also visited several 
field sites to discuss current programs and concerns with 
partners, the government 
of Pakistan (GOP) military, and others. 
 
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Staffing 
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2.    The USAID/DART currently consists of 18 members with a 
broad array of skills.  The general approach is to maintain 
critical functions in all program, technical support, 
logistics, and administration as the USAID/DART pushes to 
meet pressing needs for affected populations prior to the 
onset of heavy winter.  Several essential staff members are 
rotating out close to the Thanksgiving holiday.  The 
USAID/DART has been working with the Response Management Team 
(RMT) to develop a staffing plan for this critical period. 
Most positions now have names assigned or proposed, and the 
USAID/DART is confident that critical functions will be met 
during the critical period.  While the total number of 
positions will likely diminish as certain functions are 
collapsed into a single position, particularly for certain 
logistics and administrative functions, all essential 
functions will continue to be filled. 
 
3.    Staffing must be addressed, however, for the period of 
January through April of calendar year 2006.  Personnel for 
at least two program officer positions and an administrative 
officer position in Islamabad, as well as two field officer 
positions outside Islamabad, must be identified to serve at 
least for 90 to 120 days.  It would be preferable if a 
USAID/DART leader also served for the same period of time, 
but it is foreseeable that experienced leaders could rotate 
in and out for lesser periods. 
 
4.  The USAID/DART anticipates that it will need to maintain 
an active and thorough presence at least through April 2006, 
when the onset of spring will allow many people displaced by 
the earthquake to return home, especially to remote areas, 
and actively begin reconstruction.  The presence of 
longer-term staff will provide consistency of leadership to 
partners and programs, and enable the USAID/DART to work on a 
sustained basis with the USAID Mission on integration of 
relief programs into reconstruction programs. 
 
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Programming 
----------- 
 
5.  Focus over the next four to six weeks is on securing 
populations through the spring.  The USAID/DART will continue 
to support shelter-in-place programs, particularly for more 
remote areas.  The USAID/DART is not downplaying the need to 
prepare for many more people coming into camps, but it feels 
that current programming must focus on supplying those who 
will stay in place at higher elevations with shelter or 
shelter materials adequate to get them through the winter. 
The USAID/DART recognizes that many of those affected may 
eventually come into camps, in which case the USAID/DART 
intends to structure funding so that programs can be shifted 
to camp situations if necessary. 
 
6.    Shelter will therefore be the focus of future funding, 
along with water and sanitation, and livelihoods and 
cash-for-work (CFW) programs.  The USAID/DART is currently 
reviewing proposals to add additional partners in geographic 
areas that USAID is not now serving.  The team is also 
considering adding on to current grants to deepen and broaden 
the reach of existing partners during the next six weeks.  In 
addition, the USAID/DART Shelter and Settlements Advisor 
(SSA) is working with all current international NGO partners, 
as well as the International Organization for Migration 
(IOM), which is both a USAID/OFDA grantee and a cluster 
leader, to develop an overall strategy.   The USAID/DART SSA 
has brought a high level of expertise to a situation still 
lacking cohesiveness.  The SSA has effectively persuaded the 
GOP that tents are not the only solution to shelter problem. 
The USAID/DART shelter strategy will help partners to focus 
their efforts on appropriate approaches.  It is clear that 
partners are anxious for leadership in the shelter sector. 
 
7.    The USAID/DART will also focus on support aspects to 
field programs, including support to civilian air operations. 
 The USAID/DART anticipates and sees the need forhJe?8@b true in every 
place of 
operation, the overall feeling is of a need for improvement. 
The USAID/DART hopes that the arrival on November 5 of the 
U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
(OCHA) Chief of Operations will bring about better 
coordination between and by UN agencies.  Moreover, the 
USAID/DART will pursue discussions with OCHA on making U.N. 
offices more operational.  It appears that several U.N. 
agencies, notably UNICEF and UNHCR, are still struggling to 
define their roles as either advisors or operational 
agencies, when it is apparent that they need to pursue both 
aspects. 
CROCKER