ISLAMABAD: With nearly 400 dead and thousands left homeless after a devastating earthquake in late September, winter in the Awaran district of Balochistan province in Pakistan is going to be chillier than the expected low temperatures.
To assist the government in its rehabilitation drive for the 200,000 poverty-stricken people of Awaran, the United Nations (UN) pledges to provide its expertise in rehabilitation.
“The people who suffered in the earthquake are poor and vulnerable,” said UN Pakistan Resident Coordinator Timo Pakkala.
He acknowledged the government’s response to the tragedy, but emphasised that despite challenges, the UN has been involved from the first day.
The UN delegation was recently in Quetta, where it hopes to set up a steering committee in order to effectively coordinate relief and rehabilitation work with the provincial government.
In his meeting with the chief minister on Balochistan’s development programme, Pakkala said the delegation urged the government to make use of the UN’s ‘special expertise’ available for rebuilding houses in earthquake-hit areas.
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