24 February 2005	Thursday	14 Muharram 1426

PESHAWAR, Feb 23: A UN agency is sending a mission to the hardest-hit districts of the Frontier province to assess the devastation caused to crops and livestock by the recent rains and snowfall.

"The two-member mission of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has arrived in the city. It will start its work on Thursday", said Dr Quaid Saeed, UN's coordinator for relief activities in the NWFP.

The FAO has hired two consultants, Dr Rafiq Usmani and Dr Sartaj Khan to conduct the survey of damages caused to crops and livestock during the recent spell of rains and snowfall.

The mission, he said, would visit the districts of Mansehra, Battagram, Abbottabad and Kaghan during three-day visit. The mission, he said, would compile reports on losses suffered by farmers, besides damage caused to livestock in the affected districts.

The UN, he said, had already delivered drugs to the people affected by rain and snowfall. He said that the UN would extend possible help to the farmers for their losses of crops and livestock after the completion of survey.

The recent rains, which had resulted in the deaths of 406 people, besides causing injuries to 383 persons, had also killed 907 cows and 406 sheep in the Frontier province.

"The information about the crop and livestock damages are very sketchy and therefore the UN was carrying out its own survey to assess the correct quantum of damages and extend possible help to the affectees", the UN official said.

Both the members of the mission, held meetings with the NWFP directors of the agriculture and livestock department and discussed with them the modus operandi of the survey to be carried out in the affected parts of the province.

According to Dr Quaid, the personnel of the agriculture and livestock departments would assist the members of the mission in their respective areas. Other NGOs, such as Sungi and SRSP, besides the officials of the WHO would also accompany the mission during the survey, he said.

After completion of the survey on Feb 27, the mission would again start survey of Dir Upper and Kohistan districts from the first week of March, he said. He said that the mission's members had been hired as consultants specially for the survey, who had developed checklist for damage already identified by the UN's mission as the worst-hit.

The forms, include several columns, which are to be filled in by the affected people with the assistance of the mission's members and the staff of the agriculture and livestock departments and the NGOs.

It asks the affected people to mention their localities, besides general information about the calamity, such as severity of flood, snow and devastation they had suffered.

To make the exercise more precise, it also put questions to the victims concerning the livelihoods status of the households on the income generated from agriculture and livestock. It has also planned to record the number of damaged houses and estimated value of losses in this regard.

The mission has also included in the forms details about the estimated quantity and value of damaged foodstuff, such as wheat, rice, pulses, oil, sugar etc. Besides, it would also assess the availability of edible commodities during the calamity period and information about its prices and demand.

The mission would also collect information about the number of total livestock at a particular locality and losses during the rain, apart from collection of data regarding fodder and feeder resources.