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| October 14, 2005 | Friday | Ramzan 9, 1426 |
Shortage of tents and tarpaulin in Peshawar
PESHAWAR, Oct 13: Tents and tarpaulin have disappeared from the market in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit northern parts of the country on Saturday.
Market sources in Peshawar said there was extreme shortage of tents, tarpaulin and other shelter items across the country. Even buyers and relief workers from Rawalpindi and other areas rushed to Peshawar to purchase tents for the survivors of the quake.
An organiser of a relief agency said that they had come from Rawalpindi to buy tents for the shelterless people in Kashmir and Hazara region, but they could not find a single piece.
Due to high demand, prices of tents are on the rise in the market and traders are making their fortune. A shopkeeper in Kabari Bazaar, Peshawar Cantonment said that the price of the inferior quality canvas had gone up from Rs 35 to Rs 40 per meter in the market due to increasing demand.
United Nations has estimated that the earthquake had affected over two million people in Azad Kashmir and northern parts of the NWFP. Relief organizations and government bodies have collected tents, tarpaulin and plastic sheets from the market and sent to the affected areas.
A source said that the federal government had placed an order for over 2,500,000 tents with various firms in Lahore. A senior official said that the NWFP government was facing difficulties to purchase tents for the destitute people in Mansehra, Battagram and Kohistan.
Relief organisations like the International Committee of the Red Cross have shifted tents from Afghanistan to the quake-hit areas.
Our Correspondent adds: The federal government has established a helpline in the NWFP for destitute women and children left homeless by the Saturday’s earthquake.
The helpline, set up by the ministry of women development, would help in compiling data of hapless women and children, MPA Nighat Orakzai who is the in charge of the Helpline in NWFP told Dawn here on Thursday.
She said that the helpline was set up on the directives of adviser to the prime minister Nilopher Bakhtiar after a large number of women and children were left homeless.
The helpline will work for the betterment of destitute women and orphaned children of those areas hit by the earthquake. The families and relatives who have lost their children and women could also call the helpline to inquire about their relatives and for that purpose the helpline is compiling the data of the destitute women and children, Ms Orakzai said.
“Many childless families have called the helpline requesting for adoption of homeless and orphaned children and many people have offered to take the destitute women into their families,” Ms Orakzai said.
She said first we will compile statistics and send it to the federal government so that such women and children could be rehabilitated.
“So far we have not entertained any adoption case but many families have called the helpline requesting adoption of children orphaned by the disaster,” Ms Orakzai said.
The families and relatives of destitute women and children could make inquiries on phone number 091-2324181 and also contact on 03009590834.
She said that at the moment relief items were needed as thousands of people were left with nothing. She requested for the most needed relief items like warm clothes, sweaters, blankets and lamps and other food items.
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