ISLAMABAD, Jan 10: The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) has contributed another 10 million dollars to the UN airlift operation in Pakistan to help operate a helicopter fleet bringing assistance to the survivors of the Oct 8 earthquake.

The contribution will help the UN airlift operation to continue until the end of March. However, a portion of the DFID money will also go towards securing the operation of four MI-8 helicopters until May 3.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed the contribution from the DFID. “We are grateful to the DFID for its funding but also for the extra ‘eyes and ears’ it provided. The DFID has helped us with monitoring the situation and provided advice and identified gaps as well,” said Michael Jones, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Emergency Coordinator in Pakistan.

“We are very pleased. DFID is our biggest donor. They have always helped,” said Einar Schjolberg, head of UNHAS, the UN Humanitarian Air Cargo and Passenger Services, that is running the helicopter operation in Pakistan.

The DFID has been so far the biggest contributor to the UN airlift operation in Pakistan, providing more than $13 million. It also gave funding for other UN logistics operations, including truck transport and establishment of camps and tented warehouses.

The UK has contributed a total of $15.84 million to WFP’s earthquake relief operation, making it one of the main donors.

So far, UNHAS has received contributions of only 54 per cent of the $100 million appeal. It warned that if additional funding does not come in, the current operation may have to stop in the second half of March.

Since the earthquake hit the mountainous region of Azad Kashmir on Oct 8, killing over 73,000 people and making about 2.5 million people homeless, air operations have been vital for reaching hundreds of thousands of people. The affected population lives scattered in remote and high-altitude areas difficult to reach as roads have been blocked and access cut by landslides.

To overcome this logistics challenge, the WFP conducted jointly with UNHAS and the UN Joint Logistics Centre, the biggest helicopter operation in its history. In total, UNHAS has deployed a fleet comprising 14 MI-8, two MI-26 and two KA30 helicopters.