Pakistan - IOM has this month distributed over 4,500 toolkits to vulnerable families affected by flash floods, snowfall and war damage in Pakistan's northern Swat and Dir districts.
A further 350 kits, which include a shovel, pickaxe, adze, hammer, nails, pliers, pincers, chisel, wrench, trowel, hand saw, gloves, nylon rope, binding wire and a packing bag will be distributed in Dir this weekend, to allow returning families to repair their damaged houses and plant their kitchen gardens at the start of the spring season.
"These toolkits will help vulnerable families, some of them headed by women and elderly people, to restart their lives and generate some income through small-scale farming activities," says Hassan Abdel Moneim Mostafa, IOM Regional Representative for West and Central Asia.
In early March some 2,500 toolkits were distributed in Swat district's Charbagh and Kabal union councils. A further 2,000 were handed out in Dir district's Adenzai and Balambat tehsils this week. Beneficiaries were identified by local government and NGO partners.
"My eldest son is a mason and our only source of income. These tools will really help us," says Amelat Bibi, who has just returned to Ouch village in Dir from Mardan. She says that her family was forced to leave their home in early 2009, following military operations against militants in the region.
Over 3 million people from North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) were displaced by the 2009 conflict. Some 1.95 million have now returned to their places of origin, mainly in NWFP, and 1.21 million remain displaced, according to the provincial government. Aid agencies, including IOM, are currently appealing for USD 537 million to help the displaced, returnees, families hosting homeless returnees and conflict-affected communities.
For more information, please contact:
Saleem Rehmat
IOM Islamabad
Tel. +92-300-856-0341
E-mail: srehmat@iom.int