US embassy cable - 05ISLAMABAD16819

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 ISLAMABAD 016819 
 
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, Earthquake: USAID/DART Situation Report 
SUBJECT: PAKISTAN - EARTHQUAKE:  USAID/DART SITUATION REPORT 
 #13: FIELD VISIT OF DEPUTY DIRECTOR GOTTLIEB TO MEHRA TENT 
CAMP, BATAGRAM, AND BALAKOT 
 
 
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Summary 
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1.  On November 5, Deputy Director of the Office of U.S. 
Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) Greg Gottlieb, 
accompanied by the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team 
(DART), traveled to earthquake-affected areas.  The group 
met with implementing partners and members of the Government 
of Pakistan (GOP) military in Mehra tent camp, Batagram, and 
Balakot.  This cable summarizes the group's findings. 
 
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Batagram 
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2.  The USAID/DART Field Officer (FO) working at the forward 
base in Mansehra accompanied the group for the day.  Mr. 
Gottlieb and the USAID/DART traveled to Batagram, where they 
met with representatives of the GOP military, the Austrian 
Red Cross, and two of USAID's implementing partners, Save 
the Children (SC) and the International Organization for 
Migration (IOM).  The SC representative told the USAID/DART 
that SC has treated 25,000 patients and performed 450 
operations in SC medical facilities in Batagram.  GOP has 
designated SC as the coordinating agency for all of Batagram 
District. 
 
3.  Mr. Gottlieb met with the regional GOP army commander, 
Brigadier Khalid, to discuss current relief efforts in 
Batagram.  The GOP military remains focused on providing 
shelter materials, particularly tents, to populations in 
remote areas, although they did not present statistics on 
how many households have been reached.  The team observed a 
large stock of tents being airlifted to mountainous areas. 
 
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Mehra 
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4.  The USAID/DART traveled with Mr. Gottlieb to the Mehra 
tent camp, where they met with GOP camp commander Colonel 
Fraz and other GOP representatives operating the camp, as 
well as representatives of NGOs providing services to the 
camp.  The tent camp currently occupies an area of 53,000 
square meters.  The GOP plans to add three additional 
subsectors, each with an approximate area of 50,000 square 
meters, for a total of 195,000 square meters.  GOP 
representatives estimate that each subsector can accommodate 
900 to 1,100 families. 
 
5.  With an average family size in this camp of eight or 
nine people, the Mehra site will accommodate up to 30,000 
people and has been designed to house people from the Allai 
mountains and valley, which has a total population of 
approximately 190,000 people.  Established on October 31, 
the tent camp was a temporary home to approximately 300 
families, or approximately 2,700 people, as of November 5. 
Thirty new families arrived in the morning of November 5, 
and Colonel Fraz stated that he expected high numbers of 
families to arrive as winter approaches.  After the Eid 
holidays, more people may come down from higher elevations. 
Since the camp site is only at about 2,000 feet elevation, 
snowfall should be minimal. 
 
6.  Colonel Fraz stated that when a family arrives, the GOP 
requests the family's identification cards to register camp 
inhabitants.  Following registration, the GOP gives each 
family a basket of commodities, which comprises a tent, 
mattress, blankets, utensils, and food rations for a week. 
 
-- Food 
 
7.  Inhabitants of the Mehra tent camp arrive without food. 
They are dependent upon the GOP for food.  There appeared to 
be adequate food stocks for the current population.  Colonel 
Fraz told the USAID/DART that he would like a communal 
kitchen to be built.  At present, women are cooking meals 
for their families inside their tents, which presents a fire 
hazard.  SC is procuring 300 small propane burners for 
cooking. 
 
-- Water and Sanitation 
 
8.  At present, two 10,000-liter water purification units, 
provided by the Austrian Red Cross, are in the camp.  Water 
from the Indus River is pumped into these units, where it is 
purified and then pumped to access points in the camp.  The 
GOP plans to install two water tanks, with a 100,000-liter 
capacity each, on a hill above the camp. 
 
9.  When the USAID/DART visited Mehra, sanitation was the 
primary problem in the Mehra tent camp.  As of November 5, 
there were no latrines in the camp.  However, according to 
representatives of Save the Children, who spoke with the 
USAID/DART on November 9, 100 latrines - 50 for men and 50 
for women - had recently been installed in the camp. 
 
-- Health 
 
10.  The GOP told Mr. Gottlieb and the USAID/DART that 14 
doctors from Cuba are volunteering in the camp.  However, 
the doctors speak minimal English and no Urdu.  Camp 
inhabitants have reported a number of illnesses, including 
bloody diarrhea, watery diarrhea, a few cases of tetanus, 
and many cases of scabies. 
 
-- Livelihoods 
 
11. According to a SC representative, more people would come 
to the Mehra tent camp if the camp had a site for livestock 
grazing, which it currently does not.  People are afraid of 
coming to the tent camp if that means leaving their 
livestock, which is often their livelihood, behind.  SC is 
planning a corral for animals, with an attendant 
veterinarian.  This will enable families to maintain their 
animals rather than sell now in a depressed livestock 
market. 
 
12.  SC plans to establish a cash-for-work (CFW) committee 
to maintain the tent village.  SC will pay members of the 
committee to perform maintenance and repairs on the physical 
facilities of the camp.  The GOP military representative 
told the group that because many of the men living in the 
camp are skilled workers, the GOP is interested in 
implementing CFW programs. 
 
-- Protection 
 
13.  Colonel Fraz stated that the majority of the population 
of surrounding areas lived in mud houses prior to the 
earthquake.  In order to preserve a sense of community and 
local culture, the GOP has laid out the tent camp site at 
Mehra such that people in the camp live close to people from 
their home village, in separate areas representing the major 
villages in the region. 
 
14.  Among the Cuban doctors in the camp are female doctors. 
Members of the GOP military and NGO representatives working 
in the camp were acutely aware of the cultural needs for 
females, ranging from having female doctors to adequate 
latrines and working stations, in addition to better 
lighting for the camp. 
 
15.  IOM representatives told the USAID/DART that male heads 
of households might send their families to the camp but 
remain with their livestock.  If this happens, additional 
protection issues will arise. 
 
-- NGO Assistance at Mehra 
 
16.  NGOs have provided a significant amount of the 
commodities and services at Mehra.  SC provided blankets, 
rations, and tarpaulins, and it is in the process of 
procuring hygiene kits and establishing a play space, 
educational center, and area for livestock grazing.  As 
described above, the Austrian Red Cross is working to meet 
the water and sanitation needs of the camp.  The U.N. was 
seemingly absent.  Colonel Fraz noted several times that 
representatives from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees 
(UNHCR) had visited several times but had not done anything 
to date. 
 
-- Outstanding Needs 
 
17.  The GOP military representative in charge of the camp 
remarked that the Mehra tent camp needs additional large 
generators for the health unit and water system; 
searchlights, which provide light and enhance camp security 
at night; and latrines. 
 
-- GOP and NGOs' Two-Pronged Strategy 
 
18.  The GOP and NGOs are engaged in a two-pronged strategy 
to provide humanitarian assistance to those affected by the 
earthquake.  The GOP and relief organizations are 
simultaneously delivering relief commodities to hard-to- 
reach areas in order to promote shelter in place, and the 
GOP and relief organizations are also attempting to provide 
basic services to tent camps to encourage people in need of 
shelter to temporarily relocate to camps. 
 
19.  This strategy is evident in Mehra camp.  The GOP 
military, in conjunction with NGOs in Mehra camp, is 
attempting to move supplies up the Allai Valley.  The road 
up the valley recently opened to small vehicles and pickups. 
The GOP and NGOS have a limited ability to move humanitarian 
commodities up the valley, however.  Under the direction of 
the GOP military, IOM is sending small pickups up the valley 
to encourage people in the valley to come down to the Mehra 
tent camp.  Concurrently, the GOP is overseeing the 
establishment of facilities in the Mehra camp to entice 
people to come down from the valley and into the camp. 
 
-- USAID/DART Assessment and Recommendations 
 
20.  The USAID/DART acknowledges that many more people may 
come down into tent camps.  However, the USAID/DART holds 
that current programming must focus on supplying those who 
will stay at higher elevations with shelter or shelter 
materials, sufficient to protect them against the winter 
weather.  Many of the affected people may eventually come 
into camps, in which case the USAID/DART intends to adjust 
funding and shift program focus to camp situations if 
necessary. 
 
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Balakot 
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21.  Mr. Gottlieb and the USAID/DART also traveled to 
Balakot, where they discussed the distribution of 
humanitarian relief supplies with GOP military 
representatives in charge of the distribution and assessed 
the situation on the ground.  The population of Balakot and 
the surrounding areas is approximately 350,000 people.  In 
this area, approximately 20,000 people perished in the 
earthquake, according to a member of the GOP military. 
Areas of Balakot, including the area that the USAID/DART 
visited, are nearly 100 percent destroyed.  A member of the 
GOP military told the USAID/DART that despite this total 
destruction, people are reluctant to leave their homes, as 
they hope that they will be able to salvage any remaining 
personal effects once they are able to sift through the 
rubble.  The USAID/DART observed a number of people living 
in makeshift shelters above the ruins of their destroyed 
homes.  Recovery of bodies had only ended a few days 
previously. 
 
22.  A representative of the GOP military told the 
USAID/DART that the GOP encourages the establishment of tent 
villages because such villages facilitate the distribution 
of commodities.  The USAID/DART observed piles of 
commodities for distribution near the helicopter landing pad 
in Balakot.  The GOP military was coordinating the 
distribution of these commodities.  (Comment:  In Balakot, 
as at the Mansehra tent camp site, Mr. Gottlieb and the 
USAID/DART observed a distinct absence of the U.N.  End 
comment.) 
 
-- Meeting with ACTED 
 
23.  In Balakot, Mr. Gottlieb and the USAID/DART met with 
two representatives of ACTED, one of USAID's implementing 
partners.  According to these representatives, ACTED arrived 
in Balakot and Bagh o/a October 15.  ACTED is targeting 
remote areas in the west valley above Balakot, where other 
NGOs are absent.  Through funding from the USAID Office of 
U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), ACTED aims to reach 
3,000 beneficiaries with housing interventions.  ACTED might 
decrease the materials it is distributing to each family in 
order to serve more families.  Many heads of households 
located at higher elevations are descending to Balakot to 
obtain blankets and quilts, which they bring with them back 
to their families.  Very little information about targeted 
populations is available.  It is unclear how many people 
live in the valley where ACTED is working, although there 
are indications that the number is very large. 
 
24.  ACTED reported effective cooperation with the GOP 
military.  ACTED stated that when it has commodities for 
distribution, it relays this message to the GOP military the 
day before the distribution, who in turn relays this 
information to affected populations.  People from affected 
areas travel by foot up to four hours to obtain commodities 
supplied by ACTED. 
 
25.  In the absence of a shelter strategy from the 
international community, ACTED is distributing plastic 
sheeting and tools.  ACTED is attempting to procure these 
materials and move these materials as quickly as possible to 
remote locations. 
 
26.  ACTED stated, and the USAID/DART observed, that the 
U.N. was noticeably absent from Balakot.  ACTED 
representatives told the USAID/DART that Balakot lacks 
coordination from the U.N.  Thus, the GOP military hosts 
daily coordination meetings with NGOs.  Because of a 
shortage of undamaged office space, the majority of the NGOs 
active in Balakot are based in Mansehra, which compounds the 
coordination problem in Balakot.  Most of the NGOs in 
Mansehra are focused on humanitarian relief efforts in 
Batagram, not Balakot. 
 
-- USAID/DART Assessment and Recommendations 
 
27.  As is the case with other areas that the USAID/DART has 
assessed, the U.N. was absent in the area of Balakot that 
the USAID/DART surveyed on November 5.  The U.N. is not 
coordinating cluster group meetings in this area, and the 
GOP military has begun hosting such meetings.  The apparent 
absence of the U.N. in its role as coordinating mechanism, 
as well as the lack of U.N. commodities in this area, is 
problematic. 
 
28.   Organizations providing humanitarian assistance in 
Balakot, as in Mehra, should pursue the two-pronged strategy 
of both providing humanitarian commodities for those who 
have sought refuge in camps and also transporting and 
distributing commodities in hard-to-reach areas. 
 
 
CROCKER