IOM Director General William Lacy Swing today made a short visit to flood-affected areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and supported the distribution of tents and relief items to flood victims.
The distribution in the village of Pir Sabaq consisted of 150 shelter kits donated by IOM, which included tents and non-food items, such as blankets, kitchen sets and jerry cans.
"We should take heart from the courage and resilience of the millions affected and the efforts by the authorities and their partners that have saved countless lives," said IOM Director General William Lacy Swing.
"We want to ensure that the people affected regain their livelihoods, which requires that we don't allow the massive scale of destruction to overwhelm us," Director General Swing added.
Ninety percent of Pir Sabaq's 7,000 inhabitants were affected by 12-feet high floods and tents and food are critically needed.
During his trip to Pakistan, the Director General discussed relief efforts for flood victims and commitment to work with the government in his meetings with the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, other senior government officials, the National Disaster Management Authority, as well as with U.N. humanitarian partners.
IOM relief operations have been extended to Balochistan this week, with the start of the distribution over 2,000 shelters by the local non-governmental organization Johanniter International.
In addition, IOM has sent 10,000 blankets, 6,000 buckets and 397 tents to the same NGO for distribution in Balochistan.
Johanniter International also received 49 tents and 1,720 blankets from IOM to hand out to flood victims in Nowshera, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The 40 Emergency Shelter Cluster agencies have so far handed out 115,253 tents and 77,152 tarpaulins, covering the needs of nearly 1.1 million people.
Some 241,400 blankets, 54,000 kitchen sets and 83,800 beddings were distributed by the cluster, which includes the United Nations and other international organizations and local NGOs, and is coordinated by IOM.
For more information on IOM's activities in Pakistan and flood relief pictures, please go to: http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/pakistan.
For additional information please contact Saleem Rehmat at IOM Islamabad. Tel. +92.3008560341 Email: srehmat@iom.int. Or Chris Lom Email: clom@iom.int Tel. +66.819275215