wfn.org | CWS - Life difficult for Pakistanis fleeing conflict

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> Church World Service
> 475 Riverside Drive
> New York, New York 10115

> For Immediate Release

Life difficult for Pakistanis fleeing conflict

Editors; Download photos to accompany this story at 
www.churchworldservice.org/hires

NEW YORK, May 15, 2009--Church World Service staff responding to the 
humanitarian crisis in Pakistan precipitated by recent fighting 
between Pakistani military forces and Taliban insurgents in the 
northwest part of the country are providing a glimpse into the 
on-the-ground realities of the situation.

"Children without shoes walk for miles to reach a camp without 
adequate facilities or the overcrowded home of a poor relative," said 
a report issued May 14 by CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan.

"An elderly man struggles to travel the distance and finds that his 
destination cannot offer him the required medical attention.  A 
widowed mother, whose husband died from injuries caused in the 
crossfire between Taliban and army, escapes with her young children 
to find that she cannot receive food or milk for her children.

"These are not the stories of particular individuals but rather the 
living reality that hundreds of thousands of people face.  Leaving 
all possessions and without money, nearly one million individuals 
find themselves without the means to survive, thus, pressurizing the 
host communities who themselves struggle daily to feed and educate 
their children, to care for ill family members, and to keep a roof 
over their heads."

This week the first trucks dispatched from CWS to the affected areas 
reached their designated distribution points, bringing tents, 
blankets and food packages.

Church World Service Pakistan/Afghanistan is working with local 
partners Sungi Development Foundation and Civil Society Human and 
Institutional Development Program in distributing 300 food packages 
that meet international Sphere minimum standards for a family of five 
as well as 230 shelter kits. The relief is being distributed among 
affected displaced persons, some to families in camps and others with 
host families in the districts of Mardan and Swabi. Shelter kits 
include tents, blankets, groundsheets and tarpaulins.

The time frame for Church World Service's initial relief response is 
about six weeks.
Church World Service is responding as part of a coordinated effort by 
Action by Churches Together members in Pakistan.

An assessment by CWS partner Sungi Development Foundation of Mardan, 
where approximately 2,354 families live, indicates that among the 
things the displaced need are housing, food, child education, and 
health and hygiene items.

"Women and children, particularly, face unhygienic conditions that 
result in preventable diseases," the report said. According to a May 
14 CNN report, physicians in the camps are already reporting that 
diarrhea and the skin disease scabies are on the rise.

Other areas report similar needs. CWS staff working as part of an 
assessment team in Mardan and Swabi reported that in the Swabi 
displacement camp, "at least 250 children were barefoot and had 
walked with their parents the long distances; children approached the 
team requesting shoes."

"The team observed that individuals, particularly children, suffer 
from the extreme heat and desperately require safe drinking 
water.  Elders approached the team confessing that they know they 
have put pressure on the host communities and family to whom they 
have turned, but they blame the government for taking military action 
without providing the innocent people enough time to leave their 
homes before the attack started," CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan reported.

CWS- Pakistan/Afghanistan deputy director Mansoor Raza will visit the 
targeted areas in the coming days to monitor the situation and review 
the response plan.

Beyond this immediate relief assistance, CWS has requested to serve 
as a Humanitarian Accountability Project/Sphere focal point for 
training and support to partners engaged in the current crisis 
response. CWS, which shapes its food aid and other disaster responses 
according to international quality and accountability standards as 
set out by the Sphere Project (sphereproject.org) and the 
Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAPInternational.org), 
served as HAP and Sphere focal point during the Cyclone Nargis 
response in Myanmar.

CWS's Mansehra health clinic also is pursuing expansion of its 
community health center activities in order to make available several 
mobile health clinics to serve displaced people and host families in 
the region.

How to help

Contributions to support Church World Service emergency response and 
recovery efforts may be made online at www.churchworldservice.org, by 
phone (800.297.1516), or sent to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, 
Elkhart, IN 46515.

Media Contacts:

Lesley Crosson, 212-870-2676 lcrosson@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin, 24/7, 781-925-1526 jdragin@gis.net