MaximsNewsNetwork: PAKISTAN HUMANITARIAN EMERGENCY: MARC SALVAIL,UNICEF UPDATE

MaximsNewsNetwork: 26 October 2009 - UNICEF: Marc Salvail, senior emergency specialist for UNICEF updates on the humanitarian situation in Pakistan.

Women and children in northwestern Pakistan are once again on the move because of conflict in the region.
Fighting between militants and government forces has moved to South Waziristan on the Afghanistan border. In little over a week about 57,600 people have taken refuge in the neighboring districts of Dera Ismail Khan and Tank. They are the latest in the stream of some 2.7 million people who have been displaced since conflict overwhelmed the region in August 2008.

Humanitarian access is impossible in South Waziristan but UNICEF is working with partners to reach the most vulnerable.

Since we cannot be in Waziristan weve installed a logistics base nearby which is about one or two hours away from these locations and this is where we operate from for security reasons and for pre-positioning our stocks, said UNICEF Senior Emergency Specialist Marc Salvail.

The on-going emergency in Pakistan is complex. Since the conflict began, about 1.65 million people have returned home. UNICEF is working with those families to ensure them as well as those who have never left the conflict area.

Due to the upswing in violence, UNICEF must now ensure that those who have been applied to for shelter in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank do not suffer unduly.

Overall the situation is quite precarious. Luckily the UN had established bases so that we could act swiftly. The latest influx of internally displaced people (IDPs) comes not as a surprise, but we had not expected that such a large number would move in so few days, Salvail said.

Despite the challenges, UNICEF has had success in reaching the most vulnerable. Nearly 180,000 children from South Waziristan, along with their hosts, have been immunized against measles, many for first time in their lives. UNICEF is monitoring the situation very closely and is preparing to help the newly displaced in the coming weeks.
For those that remain in Waziristan little is known.
We have no access. We have no real information coming out of those areas that are quite restricted, Salvail said.
In the meantime, another foe is advancing. Winter in the region is notoriously brutal under the best of circumstances.
The international community has to ensure that stocks are in place and that people are provided with adequate shelter, adequate clothing and other materials that will isolate them from the harsh winter coming, Salvail said.

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• humanitarian emergency
• UNICEF
• Marc Salvail
• fighting
• South Waziristan
• IDPs
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