UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reported that some displaced people have briefly visited their hometowns, but there is no large-scale movement of people out of the relief camps.

Dismissing some reports appearing in the media, UNHCR officials said people 'are checking up on their crops and livestock in their hometowns, and assessing the possibility of returning home', but not actually doing so yet.

According to a survey conducted this week, most people said they wanted to go home but added that they were concerned about the security situation.

They said they would return if peace was restored. Other reasons they cited for their reluctance to return were destruction of their houses and infrastructure like roads, bridges, electricity and water facilities, lack of schools and shortage of food.

The survey was conducted among 4,200 displaced families, mostly from Buner, staying in Yar Hussain camp in Swabi.

Most respondents said that they had not visited their home towns since they were displaced, but those who returned said they had gone back for harvesting crops, secure cattle or check on their homes. Some people had returned to bring family members, especially the elderly, who were left behind. Almost everyone who said they had gone back said they had returned only once.

Meanwhile, the Jalozai camp in Nowshera is being expanded to accommodate about 1,800 people (or 300 families) who continue to arrive every day. 'Other camps in the NWFP are full,' a UNHCR official said. 'The new arrivals at Jalozai are a mix of people previously staying with host families and those referred on from camps which are full.'

'Preparations are under way for the monsoon season expected in mid-July.'

UNHCR is reinforcing drainage systems, especially in flat low-lying camps like Larama in Peshawar and Sheikh Shahzad in Mardan. Many families have started building protective walls or drainage canals to protect their tents.

Outside the camps, the UN refugee agency distributed relief items through its local partner, the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP), to about 25,000 people staying with host families or in schools in Charsadda, Nowshera and Mardan districts.

Through humanitarian hubs run by the World Food Programme (WFP) and with help from the SRSP, UNHCR has distributed relief aid to 24,700 people in Charsadda, Nowshera and Mardan districts.

WFP reported that it had set up banks for food and relief items in five major cities with the support of corporations like TNT, Agility and PIA.

In Quetta, Peshawar and Karachi, WFP has established two warehouses for relief aid and two more are being planned to be set up in Rawalpindi and Lahore. —APP