IOM has deployed three camp coordination and camp management (CCCM)
experts to provide technical support and capacity building for the
disaster management authorities in the mountainous, northern
Gilgit-Baltistan region.

The move, at the request of the government, follows massive
landslides which hit Hunza district in Gilgit-Baltistan in January
2010, blocking the Hunza River and the Karakoram Highway. The
rockfalls have created an artificial lake that represents a threat
to people living in 36 downstream villages, if the dam bursts.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), with the help
of Gilgit-Baltistan Disaster Management Authority (GBDMA), has set
up 23 camps to accommodate more than 20,000 people evacuated from
the threatened villages.

IOM was asked to serve as the GBDMA focal point on camp
management and IOM experts have conducted orientation sessions for
more than 450 officials from local government, the army, the
police, NGOs, volunteers and displaced people in 15 of the camps
since May 17.

The orientation sessions, which have taken place in Rahimabad,
Nomal, Al-Azhar, Sikanderabad and Gulmit, address camp site
planning, best practices for camp management, meeting the needs of
the most vulnerable, and highlighting the different needs of men
and women across a broad spectrum of CCCM activities.

"From next week, with the help of other humanitarian agencies,
we will also start providing 3- to 4-day trainings to GBDMA staff
to build their capacity and try to standardize best CCCM
practices," says Brian Kelly, Head of IOM Emergency Programming in
Pakistan.

IOM is also helping the GBDMA to design an emergency
communication strategy for the local government, developing key
messages targeting both the displaced and the Gilgit-Baltistan
population as a whole. 

IOM is the IASC Global Cluster lead in CCCM following natural
disasters. It has worked closely with the Government of Pakistan in
the field since the October 2005 earthquake in the north of the
country, which displaced some 3.5 million people.

For more information, please contact:

Saleem Rehmat

IOM Islamabad

Tel. +92-300-856-0341

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