GHALANAI, Feb 5: A child died due to sever cold at a camp, set up for internally displaced persons at Nahqi area in Mohmand tribal region, on Saturday.

Sources said that Amna, the one-year-old daughter of Hazrat Hussain, died at tent No 41, block 7 at Nahqi camp in tehsil Haleemzai due to sever cold. The baby girl, who belonged to Gaingi Dwezai, contracted a cold related disease on way to the camp.

“She died within a couple of days at the camp owing to lack of medical facilities here,” the inmates of the camp told Dawn . It was second death at the camp as an old man also died due to cardiac arrest a couple of days ago, they said.

They complained about lack of basic amenities at the IDP camps. “Four persons are being provided only one shawl. Imagine, how the people can bear the sever cold without proper blankets,” they added.

The displaced tribesmen said that a large number of children of all ages were exposed to chilly weather and epidemics. “If situation remains the same many more will fall prey to diseases,” said an aged man from Sagi.

There is no MBBS doctor and life saving medicines at the camps. Only volunteer medical practitioners and dispensers were handling the patients, the inmates said.

“There is no proper arrangement of drinking water. The people are fetching water from a nearby nullah for use,” they said.

They termed facilities at the camps inadequate keeping in view the rising number of displaced people. They appealed to prime minister and governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to help them in their permanent resettlement at safer places.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority officials said that hundreds of displaced people were reaching the two IDP camps -- Nahqi and Danishkol -- on daily basis.

The number of affected families swelled to over 3,389, consisting of about 30,500 individuals, in both the camps, they said.

A large number of others including women and children were stilling stuck at the conflict zone owing to fierce fighting between security forces and militants, they added.

The exodus from troubled areas including Upper and Lower Sagi of tehsil Safi; Dwezai, Inzari Miangan and Ghalingar of tehsil Pandyali; Musa Kor, Chargoli of tehsil Ambar; Shamsha, Suran Dara, Baidmani, Shandra, and Mamazai of tesil Bhaizai was continued.

The people have vacated their houses, leaving behind their households and cattle heads.

Political Agent Amjad Ali Khan, when contacted, said that the IDPs were being provided with food, non-food items including tents, blankest, quilts and medical care at Danishkol and Nahqi camps.

He said that five water tankers were engaged around the clock to supply clean drinking water to the camps. He said that Fata mobile hospitals and Al-Khidmat Foundation were providing health facilities to the ailing IDPs. He added that serious patients were being shifted to hospitals in Peshawar. He said that no stone would be left unturned to provide all possible facilities to the displaced tribal people.

The NRDP, Mohmand Welfare Organisation and volunteers of Haleemzai tribe were engaged in relief activities at the camps. Two teams of UNHCR visited the camps on Saturday to devise strategy for best possible arrangements for the displaced people.

The camp officials said that non-food items were distributed among the IDPs in Nahqi camp on Saturday. The Levies personnel resorted to open firing in the air to disperse furious IDPs, who were trying to snatch relief goods from the officials.

Meanwhile, three suspected persons were arrested during search operation in Kamal Khel and Gorbaz areas of tehsil Safi. The search operation also continued in Dwezai, Sagi and Ambar.