United Nations Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Pakistan, Jan Vandemoortele said on Saturday that the much talked about 'donor fatigue' did not materialise in the wake of the earthquake, adding that the real parents of success were both strong national leadership and excellent international partnership.
He was addressing a joint press conference with Major General Nadeem Ahmed, the Deputy Chairman Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) at the UN Information Centre.
He said that the UN Flash Appeal was generously funded adding that the cluster approach made for better co-ordination among the humanitarian partners greatly facilitated the liaison between national and international actors.
Jan Vandemoortele recalled that experiences from the other countries show that activities tend to fall a low ebb once relief phases out and added if this were to happen, many survivors could face another difficult situation next winter.
However, he underlined that the major challenges foreseen in the coming months are road accessibility in remote areas, potential land slides, continued assistance for vulnerable people and ensuring that basic services reach universal coverage.
A few camps would remain for vulnerable people and group with special needs, including orphans and unaccompanied children, people with physical disabilities, the elderly and landless people or urban residents who could not camp in the backyard, he said.
Residual assistance would be targeted on the neediest and would be delivered so as to foster early recovery, eg cash for work and food for work schemes and food assistance to girls enrolled in school, the UN co-ordinator said.
He was confident that the international community would continue to show strong support and former President Bush as special Envoy of the UN Secretary General would assist in turning the pledges into actual contributions.
He also applauded the role of Erra, federal and provincial authorities to plan, co-ordinate and monitor the recovery and reconstruction activities. Erra Deputy Chairman General Nadeem Ahmed on the occasion said that the authority after launching two programmes of rural housing and livelihood marked the beginning of rehabilitation and reconstruction phase.
He said the government has finalised designs and policies in earthquake affected areas in 5 major sectors including housing, health, education, livelihood and sponsorship, whereas the remaining sectors would soon be launched.
He said that an amount of Rs 34.04 billion is required to rebuild education infrastructure, whereas tentative pledge of Rs 8.4 billion have been made and more are expected in near future.
The General told the press that health strategy was a four tier strategy where basic health units, regional health units and district hospitals are the focus and some facilities have been pledged and there was a still requirement for more donors to build the health care facilities for earthquake affectees.
He said that livelihood programme includes cash grants, adopt a family, cash for work, food for work and provision of seeds and fertilisers, agriculture implements and live stock. He added that a total of 85 million dollar or Rs 4.5 billion have been pledged in this scheme.
The Erra Deputy Chairman said that the government could seriously consider importing cement for reconstruction purpose if the local producers would not reduce the prices. About the response to sponsorship programme, he said it was very encouraging and till today 300 units and 6 villages in AJK, 950 unites and 2 villages in NWFP were sponsored.
General Nadeem emphasised the need for active participation of affected community and stressed them to make full use of this opportunity given by the government to build seismically safe houses.
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