IOM’s Shelter Cluster also asking for aid

The International Organisation for Migration has appealed to international donors.

ISLAMABAD:

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and its partners in the “cluster” of aid agencies providing emergency shelter, have also appealed to international donors for 67 million US dollars to help at least 274,000 vulnerable families.

The appeal is part of a broader consolidated UN appeal for $357 for the next three months, for covering coordination, food, security, health, logistics, shelter and relief items, water, sanitation and hygiene.

The ‘Shelter Cluster’ is led by IOM and is for funding for 26 projects submitted by six UN agencies, eight international NGOs and 11 local NGOs. The projects were selected from nearly 100 applications by the cluster with input from the UN and the government.

“These projects represent the minimum of international support that Pakistan needs to provide for emergency shelter and other essential relief items that they need to survive,” said IOM emergency adviser for Asia, Brian Kelly.

The Shelter Cluster response, if funded, will complement the government’s commitment to provide 150,000 tents for displaced families. It will include tents, plastic sheets, ropes, tent poles and other survival items for at least 274,000 farming families. Shelter experts recommend a mix of tents and plastic sheet-based shelter kits. While tents can be better in camps in the short term, plastic sheets are cheaper and more versatile. wires

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th,  2011.