Issue March 2011 I. SITUATION OVERVIEW

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1 Issue March 2011 Due to recent changes in coordination arrangements in flood-affected areas, this will be the final Pakistan Humanitarian Bulletin issued by OCHA Pakistan. A new reporting product, focusing on humanitarian needs in the Northwest of the country, is planned from next month. I. SITUATION OVERVIEW Efforts to consolidate newly-established early recovery coordination structures in flood-affected areas have gathered pace over the past fortnight. Various bodies of the Early Recovery Working Groups have been established and the clusters have made the necessary arrangements to ensure a smooth transition to the new coordination mechanism for flood response. Early recovery coordination capacity at the provincial level has been strengthened with the secondment of a large number of OCHA staff members to UNDP. OCHA sub-offices in Punjab and Sindh will close in the coming weeks, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) remaining fully operational. It may be small but the one-room shelter makes a difference to lives (photo: IOM) While the emphasis is now clearly on early recovery, residual relief needs persist in the worst affected areas of Sindh and Balochistan, in particular in the camps and spontaneous settlements that continue to host tens of thousands of displaced persons. Preparedness and response planning for the 2011 monsoon season is now underway. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), with support from the humanitarian community, is overseeing a flood risk analysis and hazard mapping exercise for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan (with Gilgit- Baltistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir to follow). The analysis is due to be completed by the end of March, and will inform scenarios and planning assumptions at a series of preparedness workshops to be convened at the provincial level. In parallel with this process, the Humanitarian Country Team has launched a contingency planning working group, with a view to having an interagency contingency plan in place by the end of April, in line with the findings of the Government s risk analysis. The monsoon season usually runs from July until September. Conflict-induced displacement inside FATA s Mohmand Agency continues, but the caseload has decreased significantly. One of two camps that had been established inside the agency, Danish Kol, was closed on 4 March after the return of all IDPs. The second, Naqhi, is still open and is currently housing 2,077 families. Response priorities for conflict-affected persons across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are currently being refined. Under the framework of the Pakistan Humanitarian Response Plan (PHRP), the humanitarian community is targeting two broad beneficiary groups: IDPs in both KPK and FATA; and returnees and stayees (conflict-affected persons who were never displaced) in FATA. Latest planning figures foresee assistance being provided to close to over 135,000 IDP families (including Mohmand) and approximately 190,000 returnees and stayees inside FATA. The IDP Vulnerability Assessment and Profiling (IVAP) that has now been completed in the Peshawar Valley and is underway in Kohat and Hangu, has provided critical information on household-level vulnerability of IDPs living both in camp and off-camp situations, as well as a strong basis for more accurate targeting of certain types of assistance, particularly in-kind items. IDP families in Jalozai and Benazir camps have been identified as being amongst the most vulnerable. Interagency needs assessments in return areas in Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzai and South Waziristan consistently confirm the importance of household-level food and livelihoods support, and the immediate restoration of basic community services. The humanitarian community plans to issue a Prioritisation Statement setting out the needs of conflict affected persons in KPK and FATA and critical responses needed in 2011 before the end of April.

2 II. RESPONSE Agriculture For a more structured response to the current needs of flood affected households in the early recovery phase, the agriculture and food clusters will merge into a single sectoral working group at the end of March. The group will be co-led by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, NDMA, FAO and WFP and will deal in a holistic manner with issues related to food security, agriculture, livestock and livelihoods. During the rabi season, the agriculture cluster reached 750,000 of the 2.3 million agriculturedependent households that were affected by the floods. These households received a combination of wheat seeds, fertilizer, oil seed, and crop and vegetable packages. 652,000 households continue to receive agriculture assistance, including livestock support and cash-for-work. Food Security In view of the Government s announcement of the conclusion of the relief phase of the humanitarian response, a Food Security and Agriculture Working Group has been established to coordinate activities during the early recovery phase. The food and agriculture clusters at the federal level have now jointly agreed outputs, timelines, structures and a strategic action plan for the sector. The key achievements of the food cluster have included: Scaled up provision of emergency food rations to 3 million people in August, 6 million people in September and 7 million people in October. Provision of at least one monthly food ration to over 8.8 million people (including 4.3 million women and girls, and 1.2 million children under the age of five), with an average of 6 million people reached on a more regular basis. Delivery of a total of 480,000 metric tons of food. Health Women beneficiaries preparing animal feed provided by FAO in the flood-affected district of Shahdad Kot in Sindh (photo: Aly Khan-FAO) Education By mid-march, the education cluster had reached 39 percent of its target of 1.3 million flood-affected beneficiaries. On 17 March, partners met to discuss the Terms or Reference (ToR) of the Education Working Group, which now assumes responsibility for early recovery coordination in flood-affected areas. Overall achievements of the education cluster have included: Repair of 866 flood-affected schools in KPK, Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab (figure includes the contribution of the Pakistan Army). Over 900 parent-teacher committee members trained (741 male, 168 female). 5,554 teachers (1,960 female) trained on psychosocial support and education in emergencies. 3,067 temporary learning centres established, benefitting almost 285,000 children (39 percent girls). Under the new coordination mechanism, the Health and Nutrition sector will ensure a coordinated response for the flood-affected population during the Early Recovery Phase. WHO is already working with the National Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Network for health sector disaster risk reduction as well as with the NDMA at the national level and PDMAs at the provincial level. An Early Recovery Plan (ERP) for the Health Sector is also in final stages. The main goal of the ERP is to support the reactivation of the health care system in areas affected by the floods, with special emphasis on maximising access for the retuning and resident population to a basic package of essential quality health services. During the flood response, WHO provided emergency medicines for about 12 million people, including medicines for primary and secondary health care services along with rapid malarial diagnostic test kit, bed nets and other related health items. Logistics The logistics cluster s operations have phased out in line with its agreed exit strategy. Storage and coordination services ended in Sindh and Punjab at the end of January, and in KPK on 28 February. Air operations ended on the same date. The cluster now plans to provide three strategic warehouses to the NDMA, to enhance

3 effectiveness in response to future emergencies. Key achievements by the logistics cluster have included: Facilitation of the airlift of over 12,250 metric tons of relief cargo, on behalf of 15 organisations. Over 300 locations reached by cluster-facilitated air operations. Over 30,000 m² of temporary storage space established, with trans-shipment hubs in 10 locations. Over 25 logistics maps and 130 other documents (meeting minutes, situation reports, bulletins, etc., posted on the logistics cluster website). Nutrition A Health and Nutrition Sector Early Recovery Working Group is currently being established to coordinate early recovery interventions by health and nutrition partners. It is foreseen that this mechanism will address specific nutrition issues and strengthen response capacity, addressing both residual emergency needs and mediumto longer-term nutrition activities. These activities will be carried out in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health. Nutrition cluster activities will continue in conflictaffected areas of KPK. Protection With the relief phase over, transition within the framework of Early Recovery Working Group (ERWG) has been welcomed as an opportunity for more focused protection support to the Government in areas of return. The Protection Thematic Working Group (PTG) will benefit from lessons-learned during the relief phase. The transition to PTG at national, provincial and district levels, with NDMA co-leading, is well underway, with first meetings already taking place. A protection Early Recovery Strategic Plan is currently being prepared to ensure targeted interventions in return areas. The plan will also ensure that assistance for those who remain displaced will continue. Close cooperation with relevant line ministries and the mainstreaming of protection as a cross-cutting theme into other strategic working groups and thematic groups will continue under the new structure. Key achievements by the protection cluster during the relief phase have included: Identification and response to protection issues and most vulnerable populations, including material support. Establishment of Social Welfare/Protection Centres and individual assistance mechanisms. Technical advice for the WATAN programme, inter-agency and inter-cluster assessments and capacity-building of Government counterparts and local NGOs/CBOs. Developing a framework for the return or resettlement of persons displaced by the floods and supporting NDMA in developing guidelines and an incident reporting system for genderbased violence. Set-up and functioning of CFS and Child Protection Unit along with counselling services and psycho-social support systems as well as child and woman help-lines. Training of trainers and technical advice on the inclusion of older and disabled persons in the emergency response and the sensitisation of housing, land and property right issues. Beneficiaries of a one-room shelter in Jacobabad Sindh (photo: IOM) Shelter and NFIs The Housing Early Recovery Working Group, co-led by UNDP and UN-Habitat, is coordinating closely with IOM to ensure a smooth transition as the shelter cluster winds down. Provincial Early Recovery Working Groups are being established in Karachi and Lahore. UN-Habitat will be assessing the need for additional hubs in Multan, Sukkur and Hyderabad, as well as for district level coordination structures. To date, the shelter cluster reports distributing 378,323 tents and 1,349,577 plastic tarpaulins to over 1 million households (66 percent of the estimated number of houses damaged or destroyed). Coverage in Punjab has increased to 93 percent while coverage in Sindh is at 51 percent. The inclusion of pipeline items has increased coverage in Sindh to 61 percent. Priority is now rapid scaling up of early recovery

4 activities. The Housing Early Recovery Working Group is emphasising the one room shelter as the most costeffective and durable early recovery shelter solution. To date, 14,520 one room shelters and 24,111 transitional shelters are complete. 160,000 one room and 56,024 transitional shelters are committed, which amounts to projected coverage to 27 percent of the estimated number of destroyed houses. Full details of distributions, completed shelters and pipeline are available on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene On 6 March, the WASH Cluster was dissolved at Islamabad level and reconvened as the Water and Sanitation Sector Working Group. The sector will continue to coordinate relief activities in areas identified and approved by NDMA. In KPK, the WASH cluster will continue to function alongside the early recovery sector working group. Other provincial level clusters are also in the process of changing to ERSWG's. The WASH IM are finalising the analysis of relief information and desegregating ER data, which will be the main focus of reporting from now on. The ToRs for the early recovery sector have been drafted and disseminated for comment by the sector. Priorities in early recovery are primarily the rehabilitation and/or installation of permanent improved WASH facilities. Restoring and exceeding pre-flood WASH coverage levels through intensive promotion activities in line with the Pakistan Approach to Total Sanitation (PATS) and other mechanisms is also a priority. Comprehensive 3 to 6- month planning and mapping is being undertaken with the review of plans being sent to partners for confirmation and increased specification of activities..

5 III. FUNDING Latest levels of funding of the Pakistan Floods Emergency Response Plan are as follows: Grants totaling $30.13 million have now been approved for funding from the Pakistan Emergency Response Fund. 106 projects from nine clusters or sectors have so far benefitted, of which 31 percent are focused on shelter/nfis and 29 per cent for WASH support. In terms of geographical distribution of grants, projects in KPK have so far attracted most ERF funding ($6.8 million), followed by Sindh ($6.4 million), Punjab ($5.3 million), Balochistan ($3.8 million); and Gilgit-Baltistan ( $1,318,837). Regularly updated information on humanitarian funding for Pakistan is available on OCHA s Financial Tracking Service, at: CONTACT INFORMATION OCHA, Islamabad Manuel Bessler Head of Office bessler@un.org Stacey Winston Public Information winston@un.org Shane Doherty Reporting dohertys@un.org OCHA, New York Severine Rey Desk Officer rey@un.org OCHA, Geneva Thierry Delbreuve Desk Officer delbreuve@un.org