IOM is backing a Pakistan government survey to register and
identify the problems of people from Pakistan-administered Kashmir
displaced by the October 2005 earthquake and still living in
temporary settlements and camps.

The UNOCHA-funded survey by the Capital Development Authority
(CDA) and the Camp Management Organization (CMO) will help identify
people’s problems and what is stopping them from leaving the
camps and returning to their places of origin.

“The information will help the Pakistani government and
relief organizations to respond to the needs of these people.
Thousands have already gone back to their home and this exercise
will help identify who cannot go back and for what reason,”
says IOM Field Coordination Officer Rex Alamban.

The survey, which started with a 20-strong survey team in
Islamabad this week, resulted in the registration of over 1,000
displaced Kashmiris currently living in CDA flats in the city.

In Muzaffarabad and Bagh districts, an estimated 5,000 families
still living in tent camps will be registered by the survey, which
will continue through the middle of September and is expected to
report by the end of the month.

The survey will also cover people from 31 “Red Zone”
villages in Muzaffarabad district who were relocated last month to
tent settlements due to the threat of landslides and flooding
during the ongoing monsoon season.

At least 200 people have died in mudslides and floods due to
torrential rains in earthquake-affected areas. The flash-floods
have forced hundreds of families to relocate to safer places,
including the residual camps.

UNHCR has already completed a similar registration and
constraints survey in residual camps in the earthquake-affected
areas of North West Frontier Province.

For further information please contact:

Saleem Rehmat

IOM Islamabad

Tel. +92.3008565967

E-mail: "mailto:srehmet@iom.int">srehmet@iom.int