Afghanistan Humanitarian Update No. 24

At a Glance:

• Tents, relief supplies in place at Killi Faizo; refugees arrive at temporary site
• Site preparations and stockpiling continue in Pakistan and Iran

Temporary Site in Pakistan Takes Shape

More than 60 tents had gone up and were housing 150 refugees by midday Wednesday at the Killi Faizo temporary staging site, some 2 kilometres inside Pakistan near the Chaman border crossing. UNHCR's team at the site today interviewed and registered the new arrivals. Some families in the Killi Faizo site arrived in Pakistan through the official entry point, while others entered through unofficial crossings in the nearby hills.

UNHCR has delivered 1,000 tents, as well as blankets, plastic sheeting and jerry cans to the site, and relief workers were rushing to set up more tents to receive refugees. UNHCR will be fielding another 2,000 tents to the forward stockpile at Chaman to ensure that there are adequate stocks on hand. Water tankers will be used to meet the water needs at the site.

According to UNHCR specialists, the Killi Faizo site could accommodate up to 10,000 people, but the authorities would like to limit the site to a maximum 600 tents.

The medical relief agency MSF-Holland sent a team to Killi Faizo this morning, and is providing basic health services, including rehydration therapy, vaccinations and emergency care. Some of the new arrivals are sick and others injured, though there are apparently no war-wounded persons among them. The new arrivals are receiving wheat flour, beans and vegetable oil from the World Food Programme. Pakistan troops at the frontier yesterday helped erect shelters at Killi Faizo.

The Killi Faizo site is an emergency measure to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable people entering from Afghanistan. Work continues to prepare Roghani and Tor Tangi, two longer-term sites about 20 kilometres from Chaman, that could together house 50,000 refugees. Today, UNHCR was told that its partners could begin drilling wells at Roghani. UNHCR hopes the Pakistan authorities will soon allow the transfer of the newcomers to Roghani.

Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province

In Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, three sites for new arrivals have been completed. The two locations in Mohmand Agency and one location in Khyber Agency can shelter some 22,000 people. In a set-back, UNHCR has been forced to at least postpone plans to establish possible new sites in the Saidgai area of North Waziristan due to persistent objections from the local population.

Iran

UNHCR continues to build up its stockpiles in Iran to deal with any possible larger refugee influx. UNHCR has pre-positioned emergency relief stocks in Mashhad and Zahedan, the capitals of Khorasan and Sistan-Baluchistan Provinces bordering Afghanistan. So far, emergency reserves in Iran total over 3,000 tents, 18,700 individual plastic sheets, 21,700 blankets, 16 prefabricated warehouses, four hospital tents, 5,300 canvas tarpaulins, 1,200 mattresses, over 18,000 bars of soap, 4,900 jerry cans, and 298 rolls of plastic sheeting. UNHCR supplies in Iran are in addition to the existing capacities of the Iranian Red Crescent Society.