Families and communities struggle to look after Pakistan’s homeless

Local families and communities in Pakistan are creaking under the pressure of taking in many of the millions of children and adults who have fled fighting between the government and Taliban.

The conflict in Pakistan’s north-west created an exodus of more than 4 million people seeking safety. Caught in the conflict people have lost their homes, possessions and many children have been separated from their families.

With monsoon season looming many are now living in cramped conditions in official camps, which leave them — and children in particular — vulnerable to disease. But local communities have also shouldered much of the burden, bending over backwards to help accommodate the 1.9 million homeless. About 90 percent of the displaced people are living in cramped make-shift camps, rented accommodation or crammed in with host families. Only about 280,000 are in official refugee camps.

In one province, about 3,700 schools are occupied by people seeking shelter from fighting, according to United Nations figures. This is becoming a major worry with the new school term beginning on September 1.

The population of Swabi, south of Swat in north-west Pakistan, has almost doubled in recent months as people have fled here to escape fighting further north.

But the millions uprooted by the fighting must be not be pushed into returning home before their safety and security can be guaranteed, a top UN humanitarian official said yesterday.

John Holmes, United Nations emergency relief coordinator, said during a four-day visit to Pakistan that the displaced were at a “critical turning point”, because the army has said large areas of the north west are safe for people to return to.

Mr Holmes said: “Although we are making headway in delivering aid to people in formal camps, we need to find ways to reach more displaced in need - especially those staying in spontaneous settlements and with host families.”

Speaking to UN staff, Mr Holmes noted that Pakistan is experiencing a major humanitarian crisis. “While it is not the largest crisis in the world, needs in Pakistan are the most immediate of any crisis in the world. The upcoming monsoon season makes meeting those needs an even more urgent priority,” he acknowledged.

“This will not be easy, and I fear it will be by no means perfect. But we must pull out all the stops to do as much as possible, as quickly as possible,” he said.

SOS Children has set up a shelter for refugee women and children in Peshawar, near the Afghan border.

The charity has worked in Pakistan since 1977 and we now care for hundreds of orphans in eight SOS Children's Villages around the country.