Humanitarian Crisis in Pakistan

As pressure on militants in eastern Afghanistan has increased, they have moved across the border into Pakistan. The Pakistani government, in an attempt to get the militants to lay down their arms, approved a law in April that allowed for the enforcement of Sharia law in the Swat district, which had been a key demand of the Taliban operating in the area. However, the situation has deteriorated and the militants have expanded their activities into the neighboring districts of Dir and Buner. On April 28, at the request of government, the Pakistani army began military actions against militants and a curfew was imposed in the districts.

Today

A couple fleeing military operations in Buner arrives at a police checkpoint at Sher Ghar near Takht Bai, about 150 km (85 miles) northwest of Pakistan's capital Islamabad. (REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood, courtesy www.alertnet.org)

Although the situation on the ground is fluid, the government of Pakistan and the United Nations anticipate up to 1.5 million people will be displaced from Swat, Buner and Lower Dir. The latest figures indicate that more than a million people have already been displaced. Currently, half of the displaced people are living with host families and the other half are registered in refugee camps. Another 550,000 people, who were displaced from their homes in earlier fighting, also are living in host communities.

To give you an idea of the scale of the influx, consider that the United Nations reported on Tuesday, May 13 a little more than 500,000 people were either registered in the camps or recorded by authorities. By Friday, May 15, that figure had neared one million.

According to CARE's local partners, the heavy fighting is limiting movement and people are fleeing from the areas only during curfew breaks. More worrisome are the reports suggesting that the Taliban are not allowing many people to leave the conflict zone, and are holding them as human shields.

CARE's Response

People are arriving at refugee camps traumatized, injured and, most often, with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. The need for shelter, bedding, clothes, food, water, cooking utensils as well as medical and mental care is great. And the situation is growing more dire by the day. Existing camps are overcrowded and communities are being stretched to their limits by the influx.

CARE is on-the ground in Pakistan, working with local partners, to distribute tents for shelter as well as plastic floor mats, kitchen sets, shawls for warmth, hygiene kits and mosquito nets to families who have fled to the regions of Mardan and Swabi.

In the coming days, we will help 60,000 people access shelter, emergency supplies, hygiene kits and medical and psychological care. In addition, CARE is focusing on needs in the camp such as food, clean water and sanitation.

Women and Children

A woman sits with her children at a United Nation's NHCR camp in Mardan, about 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Pakistan's capital Islamabad. (REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood, courtesy www.alertnet.org)

We are paying close attention to the needs of women and children in the camps so that they receive appropriate care during this time of crisis.

Assessments indicate several areas of vulnerability: a severe shortage of female medical staff that may cause women and girls to forgo treatment due to cultural reasons; the lack of personal hygiene supplies for women; concern that food in the camps do not fully meet the nutritional needs of children; and fright displayed by children, particularly when there is a loud noise, such as the sound of helicopters and planes flying over the camps.

CARE in Pakistan

CARE has operated in Pakistan since June 2005 on sustainable community development and poverty alleviation. When the country was rocked by a massive earthquake in October of that year, CARE launched emergency operations in some of the most remote and logistically-challenging areas of the country. We were able to help more than 380,000 people through assistance in emergency shelter, education, health, water, sanitation, infrastructure, housing and cash for work.