This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 015531 
 
SIPDIS 
 
KABUL - PLEASE PASS TO CFC-A 
DEPT - PLEASE PASS TO USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AEMR EAID MASS PARM PGOV PK PREL AID UN
SUBJECT: PAKISTAN EARTHQUAKE:  UNHCR PLANS FOR CAMPS AND 
SHELTER 
 
REF: A. ISLAMABAD 15522 AND NOTAL 
     ¶B. HUNT/SWAMY/GRENCIK EMAIL TO SA/PB 14-16 OCTOBER 
        2005 
 
¶1.   The October 8, 2005 magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Pakistan 
left an estimated 3.3 million people without shelter (UN 
Office of Humanitarian Coordinator, October 15).  Providing 
temporary shelter from them remains a top priority of the 
international assistance effort and the government of 
Pakistan.  The United Nations Disaster Management Team 
(UNDMT) and the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination 
(UNDAC) group is focused on establishing small temporary 
camps only where necessary, putting primary emphasis on 
providing shelter close to the destroyed homes of survivors. 
 
CAMPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS 
----------------------------- 
 
¶2.  The UNDAC Camp Management Cluster, led by the United 
Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), received a 
written request on October 13, 2005 from Pakistan's Federal 
Relief Coordinator, Major General Farooq Ahmed Kahn, to 
establish camps for those left homeless by the earthquake. 
The UN Flash Appeal for the South Asia Earthquake contains a 
request for $22 million for the UNDAC Camp Management Cluster 
to provide everything needed to operate camps for up to 
500,000 people except food (which is included in the Food 
Cluster Request).  UNHCR and the fourteen non-governmental 
organizations (NGOs) in the Camp Management Cluster, 
recognizing that camps can be magnets for those looking for 
assistance and become unnecessarily large, have agreed to 
minimize the number of camps and to aim to keep them open 
only for six months.  The Camp Management Cluster will work 
with the Shelter and other UNDAC clusters to achieve this 
goal.  To keep camp sizes small, it plans to: 
 
-- Prevent interim displacement by delivering tents and 
blankets to the most remote areas possible to enable people 
to remain near their destroyed homes; 
 
-- Provide tents, blankets, non-food items, and 
organizational assistance to spontaneous settlements; 
 
-- Keep those camps it is necessary to establish as small as 
possible; 
 
-- Work to establish and maintain in the camps Sphere 
standards (which set minimum levels of assistance for 
disaster assistance). 
 
UN HAS NO PLANS TO ESTABLISH LARGE CAMPS 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  UNHCR and NGO members of the Camp Management Cluster are 
currently completing site surveys for the small camps in 
Muzaffarabad, Balakot and Batagram and in other locations. 
Although October 14 newspaper reports referred to a 
Government of Pakistan (GOP) plan to create "tent cities" to 
house earthquake victims, the UN has received no formal 
request from the GOP for such camps.  If asked, UNHCR will 
provide technical advice to GOP on establishing and operating 
large camps, but it will not itself take a role in management 
of camps in urban areas or camps located great distances from 
the homes of survivors. 
 
PROVIDING SHELTER TO THOSE OUTSIDE CAMPS 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  UNHCR is encouraged by assurances from the GOP that those 
in the earthquake-affected area will want to stay as close to 
their destroyed dwellings as possible.  It has already 
provided 2,400 winterized tents to its NGO partners for 
distribution, and an additional 15,415 winterized tents and 
220,000 blankets from UHCR stockpiles in Afghanistan, Turkey 
and Dubai are scheduled to be delivered by October 20, The 
Shelter Cluster is also working to provide tents to the 
displaced who want to remain near their homes.  UNDAC and the 
Shelter Cluster are in the process of determining how many 
tents have already been delivered, how many are being 
shipped, and how many of them are winterized.  The Shelter 
Cluster reports that estimates of the need for tents varies; 
initial estimates were that between 100,000 and 200,000 tents 
would be needed, but the Shelter Cluster now estimates the 
number required could be as high as 600,000.  As of October 
15, 2005, the Shelter Cluster estimated that 15,000 tents had 
already been delivered and that 66,000 were in the pipeline, 
but stressed that these are preliminary figures and that it 
lacks complete information from all donors. 
 
¶5.  Comment:  The need to shelter survivors of the earthquake 
is growing more acute each day, as the shift in weather 
conditions has left thousands exposed to the elements. 
Post's contacts in the Kashmiri community agree with the GOP 
assessment that strong cultural imperatives will make 
survivors extremely reluctant to abandon their land and 
homes.  The sizable Kashmiri community in 
Islamabad/Rawalpindi is already housing extended family 
members affected by the earthquake, but will not be able to 
absorb the thousands of displaced survivors.  Post will 
continue to monitor UNHCR and GOP resettlement plans as 
Pakistan shifts from emergency relief toward sustainable 
mid-term housing for the homeless. 
CROCKER