IOM supports Gilgit-Baltistan disaster management authorities, following landslides, flooding threat
IOM has deployed three camp coordination and camp management (CCCM) experts to provide technical support and capacity building for the disaster management authorities in the mountainous, northern Gilgit-Baltistan region.
The move, at the request of the government, follows massive landslides which hit Hunza district in Gilgit-Baltistan in January 2010, blocking the Hunza River and the Karakoram Highway. The rockfalls have created an artificial lake that represents a threat to people living in 36 downstream villages, if the dam bursts.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), with the help of Gilgit-Baltistan Disaster Management Authority (GBDMA), has set up 23 camps to accommodate more than 20,000 people evacuated from the threatened villages.
IOM was asked to serve as the GBDMA focal point on camp management and IOM experts have conducted orientation sessions for more than 450 officials from local government, the army, the police, NGOs, volunteers and displaced people in 15 of the camps since May 17.
The orientation sessions, which have taken place in Rahimabad, Nomal, Al-Azhar, Sikanderabad and Gulmit, address camp site planning, best practices for camp management, meeting the needs of the most vulnerable, and highlighting the different needs of men and women across a broad spectrum of CCCM activities.
“From next week, with the help of other humanitarian agencies, we will also start providing 3-4 day trainings to GBDMA staff to build their capacity and try to standardize best CCCM practices,” says Brian Kelly, Head of IOM Emergency Programming in Pakistan.
IOM is also helping the GBDMA to design an emergency communication strategy for the local government, developing key messages targeting both the displaced and the Gilgit-Baltistan population as a whole.
IOM is the IASC Global Cluster lead in CCCM following natural disasters. It has worked closely with the Government of Pakistan in the field since the October 2005 earthquake in the north of the country, which displaced some 3.5 million people.
For further details, please contact:
Saleem Rehmat at IOM Islamabad
Tel. +92-300-856-0341, Email: [email protected].
Jean-Philippe Chauzy
Head, Media and Communication, IOM
+41 22 717 93 61
+41 79 285 43 66
www.iom.int