Thousands of residents are now dependent on food assistance for much of next year

LAOS: Storm survivors dependent on food assistance

Photo: Peter Lappe/WFP

VIENTIANE,  – Three months after tropical storm Ketsana struck southern Laos, leaving 28 people dead and more than US$90 million in damages, thousands of survivors now find themselves food insecure.

According to a 14 December revised UN Flash Appeal, around 126,000 people (or 70 percent of those affected) are in need of food aid over the coming three months – and some 72,000 will continue to require assistance for a further three months after that.

Farmers have very low expectations for this year’s harvest: About 28,500 hectares of rice and other crops have been damaged resulting in a 70 percent production loss, the UN appeal said.

Mountainous Samouy District, near the border with Vietnam, was the worst affected district in the southern Laos province of Saravan when the storm struck on 29 September 2009.

The total population of the district is 13,000, but only five of the 54 villages survived the floods with minimal damage, and more than half the population now faces insufficient food supplies.

Deputy Governor of Samouy Vilaysack Phomphakdy said the most serious concern for local people was the loss of 1,480 hectares of paddy fields – wiped out by the floods – which would have yielded an estimated 2,200 tons of rice at the end of the rainy season in October.

Some 1,000 families or around 6,000 people lost their staple crops to landslides and high water in the district.

More than 220 hectares of cassava, a staple part of the Lao diet, was also destroyed, as were industrial tree plantations in some areas. A large number of poultry, cattle and other livestock were also lost in the district.

“These people don’t have enough rice to eat for the next year. They need over 3,000 tons for 2010 because they will not be able to grow rice again on the hillsides and rice fields until they first clear the land,” Vilaysack told IRIN.

Bounted Sailavatay, a resident of Salava-tay village, said his main crops – including rice, cassava, and peppers – were destroyed by the storm, and floodwaters swept away rubber trees and coffee plants, as well as his family home.

Bad timing

Photo: Courtesy Lao Poverty Reduction Fund

A bridge in Samuoy District, destroyed by high waters in the wake of Ketsana

Ketsana struck right at the end of the rice growing season, when farmers throughout Laos were beginning to harvest their crops.

“All I have left is empty land and dead crops. The floodwaters swept away ripe rice. I had just started harvesting the rice a few days before, but hadn’t stored any in my house. I left it in the rice fields and the floodwater swept it away. The rice in this field would have been enough for us to eat for six months,” Bounted said.

To cope, Bounted’s family, like others in the district, are living off cassava, a staple of the Lao diet, mixed with rice donated by the World Food Programme (WFP).

“The rice is not enough to eat for a month. Each person eats at least 20kg per month,” said Bounted, commenting on the WFP donation of 10kg of rice per person in December.

He also plans to grow corn but the season for this is from January to April, so there are at least four months to wait until he can harvest a crop.

FAO aid from January 2010

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative in Laos, Serge Andre Verniau, said the organization would provide US$1 million in vegetable seeds and agricultural tools for farmers affected by Ketsana, starting in January 2010.

Verniau said the seeds would help the farmers back towards food security in the long-run.

“FAO is mobilizing funds from many organizations to help affected people. If we receive more funds, we can support them more,” he said.

Deputy Governor of Samouy Vilaysack said around 350 of the district’s 1,000 houses were destroyed in the flood; many were swept away, while others lost roofs or were damaged beyond repair by high water and debris.

He said all those who had lost their homes were now being housed in temporary shelters provided by the government at a one-off construction cost of over $118,000.

The worst affected provinces were Saravan, Xekong and Attapeu.

To support government relief efforts, the revised UN flash appeal calls for more than $12.8 million to address the immediate needs of more than 180,000 people affected by Ketsana until April 2010. As of 29 December, 60 percent of this total had been received.

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Government hospitals have set up isolation wards to handle H1N1 influenza cases

PAKISTAN: Nine swine flu deaths prompt fear

Photo: Kamila Hyat/IRIN

ISLAMABAD,  – The death of at least nine people from H1N1 influenza since May 2009 has led to rising public fear and concern, and experts are calling on the government to introduce more preventative measures.

Screening was introduced at airports during the summer but little else has been done to combat the disease.

“The authorities are not taking effective measures to check the disease. There is no strategy in place for this,” Ashraf Nizami, president-elect of the Pakistan Medical Association in Punjab, said. Nine cases have now been confirmed in the province.

Experts say one of the factors behind the recent rise in H1N1 cases has been the return from Saudi Arabia at the end of November of thousands of pilgrims who had gone on the Haj pilgrimage.

“The return of 150,000 pilgrims in cold, dry weather raises the risk of swine flu as in these conditions the virus spreads rapidly,” Rafiq Khanani, president of the Infection Control Society of Pakistan, said at a seminar in Karachi.

He suggested thermal scanners should have been placed at all airports before the Haj pilgrim influx began.

Rashid Jooma, director-general of health for the federal government, said there were 76 confirmed cases and nine deaths.

Twenty-six other people have been tested positive by the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, which also reported two additional deaths in the city. Under government policy, all positive samples need to be sent to the National Institute for Health for confirmation.

Government measures

Jooma said “about two million vaccines” would be available by mid-January, with vulnerable people, including pregnant women and health workers, to be inoculated first.

“We have thermal scanners at all major airports, but at Karachi so far only one is installed at the Haj terminal. A second scanner is being installed soon to cover other travellers,” he told IRIN.

Isolation wards had also been set up at major government hospitals, he added.

However, many say the government action is too little and too late.

“There is not much point in making statements and promises now. I am not sending my two children to school. Many pupils are sick and I am worried my sons could contract swine flu,” Asiya Gul, 30, told IRIN.

Healthcare practitioners continue to try and calm fears. “The disease is manageable, especially in the early stages,” said Javed Akram, principal of the Allama Iqbal Medical College in Lahore. He advised people to “avoid public places, wash their hands frequently and consult a doctor if they had symptoms of the disease”.

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Women and children in Pakistan’s IDP camps face an especially tough time due to winter weather and tough living conditions

PAKISTAN: Displaced suffer as winter sets in

Photo: Abdul Majeed Goraya/IRIN

PESHAWAR,  – Thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from conflict-hit areas in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) have been experiencing increased hardship as temperatures drop to freezing in many northern regions, IDPs have told IRIN.

“It is very hard to manage now that it is so cold. We sleep on an open verandah at our host’s home because he has only two rooms indoors and these are occupied by his own family of 10,” said Waris Mehsud, aged 35.

He was displaced from South Waziristan in November when the government’s military operation against militants intensified. He now lives with relatives in Dera Ismail Khan town, NWFP. “Two of my four young children are sick with high fever and bad colds and it is hard to keep them warm at night,” he said.

An acting UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesperson told IRIN last week that up to “900,000 people could still be displaced, most of whom remain with host families”. Estimating the number of IDPs outside camps has been hard as many of them move between their homes in conflict zones and their hosts in other areas, the spokesperson said.

“We thought about going back earlier this month because our hosts were under strain because of us, but our home near Wana, [in South Waziristan] has been damaged and we cannot move back until repairs are carried out,” said Mehsud.

In addition to IDPs living with hosts, UNHCR says there are 110,368 IDPs in 13 camps – in Peshawar, Nowshera, Mardan, Charsadda, Lower Dir and Hangu districts. Most are from Bajaur Agency.

“Winterization packages”, including all-weather tents, blankets and plastic sheets, have been distributed to these IDPs but living conditions are still hard, according to an update by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) covering 26 November to 9 December 2009.

Fire risk

Photo: Abdul Majeed Goraya/IRIN

Cold weather has added to the hardships of IDPs across the North West Frontier Province in Pakistan

To keep warm some IDPs have tried to light fires very near their tents, or even inside them, and “we have had to stop them because it is dangerous,” said Muhammad Husain, an organizer for the local authorities in Hangu District, where a camp has been set up in the town of Muhammad Khoja.

Two weeks ago, four children were burnt to death after a tent caught fire at Jalala Camp in Mardan District, due to an electrical short circuit.

Tough for women, children

Life is especially tough for women and children.

“It is very hard to wash clothes or bathe the children because there is no hot water, and we cannot heat more than a small pan on our stoves,” Zareen Bibi, a displaced woman living in Muhammad Khoja Camp with some 50 other families, told IRIN.

There are also unexpected problems: “Now that it is winter, the men from our host family sleep indoors instead of in the courtyard. We can only reach the toilet if we pass through the room where my cousin and his adult sons sleep, and this is not appropriate. Sometimes my two teenage daughters and myself cannot relieve ourselves for over 14 hours, until the men leave the room,” said Uzma Bibi, 40, in Mardan.

“Upper respiratory tract infections are common in children at this time of the year. Children are especially vulnerable, and there have been reports of sickness among child IDPs,” Maheen Khan, a pediatrician in Peshawar, said.

Insecurity has hampered access to IDPs by both international agencies and female health professionals.

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