By NNN-IRIN
Islamabad : An estimated 4,000 Afghan refugees living in camps in Pakistan’s flood-affected Balochistan Province are now receiving assistance, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has confirmed.
"At the moment, we are covering the needs of the Afghan refugees,� Babar Baloch, a UNHCR spokesman, said from the provincial capital Quetta.
Communities in refugee-hosting areas were also being assisted, he said. “Most of the impact was on the host communities… we’ve probably helped more Pakistanis at this point in time than Afghans.�
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on July 25, an estimated 2.5 million people were affected by flooding in Balochistan and Sindh provinces, after cyclone Yemyin first struck the country on June 23.
Four days of torrential rain left 319 people dead, 224 others missing and some 377,000 displaced or homeless.
Of the more than two million registered Afghans living in Pakistan today, some 440,000 live in Baluchistan, a vast, sparsely populated province of just over 8 million inhabitants.
Approximately 20 percent of these Afghan refugees in Balochistan, or 88,000 people, live in 12 refugee camps in the province. Only five camps were affected by the floods, and 4,000 of the 40,000 refugees living in those camps required assistance, according to the UNHCR.
Of these, Posti, Lejaykarez, Chagai and Girdi Jungle camps are located in Chagai District, 450km southwest of Quetta. The latter is home to some 30,000 refugees and the largest of the camps. Malgagai, the fifth affected camp is located in Killasaifullah District, about 250km north of Quetta.
As part of the UNHCR’s response through local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), comprised primarily of non-food related items, some 3,000 tents have been distributed thus far, as well as over 13,000 tarpaulins.
"Initially when we arrived there weren’t many tents available. Plastic sheeting is now being used as an alternative to the tents,� Baloch said.
The UNHCR is now largely dependent on contributions made to its share of the UN’s US$38 million flash appeal for flood affected areas, launched in Geneva on July 18.