CONSOLIDATED WEEKLY SITREP

1. Security
2. Air Operations
3. Immigration and Customs
4. Infrastructure and Static Road Assessment
5. Logistics Coordination
6. Civil Military Logs
7. Fuel
8. NFI Pipeline
9. Road Status
10. Warehousing
11. Commodity Availability
12. Other Information

1.    SECURITY


General

• President Bush's visit to Pakistan over the weekend of March 3rd to 5th was accompanied by road closures and security lockdowns over the Islamabad area.
• The March 1st bomb attack near the US embassy in Karachi further heightened security concerns.
• Country-wide strikes and protests on March 3rd and 5th planned to coincide with this visit took place in relative calm.
• UN offices in Islamabad were largely closed over these three days due to restricted movement and to ensure the security of personnel.
• The security situation has now eased over the affected area.
  

Bagh

• Security restrictions and corresponding protests over the period of President Bush's visit limited Bagh operations between March 3rd and 5th.
• Bagh District has remained calm throughout the recent upheavals.
  

• All international staff will be required to carry passports and visas or photocopies thereof due to the implementation of security checkpoints.

Batagram

• Operations were shut down on Friday March 3rd due to security concerns.
• A peaceful protest took place in town with an attendance of 500 to 700 people.
  

• The use of escorts for movement outside Batagram has been discussed with the local Pakistan Military.
• The current policy requiring escorts will be continued for the next week and then reassessed according to the current situation.
  

Muzaffarabad

• UNDSS is implementing new camp security procedures.
• Badges and registration for visitors will be required and more stringent security gate checks implemented.
  

2.    AIR OPERATIONS

General

• UNHAS flights were cancelled on March 3rd and 5th because of security concerns and limited access to the airport. 
• Flights on March 4th remained limited for security reasons and two additional half days were lost at the start of the week due to bad weather.
  

• Further cuts are being made to the UNHAS cargo fleet and UNHAS has announced that unless additional funding is forthcoming its air operations may cease on March 31st.
• March 31st is also the scheduled date of departure for the UNHAS-tasked US Military Chinooks, German Stallions and Australian S-70s.
• Heads of Agencies are requested to communicate their operational projections so that air capacity requirements for the relief and recovery phase of the mission can be assessed.
  

• The FRC has drafted an official request to the French government in a bid to keep the French Fuel Farm in Abbottabad in-country until June 1st.
• USAID is bringing in a Bell 206 for the purposes of assessing and monitoring its transition programs.
  

Bagh

• WFP is running a six-day operation to transport food into Bedhi due to continuing road blockages.
• UNHAS passenger flights to and from Bagh are fully booked, leaving large numbers of passengers on standby.
  

Batagram

• Helicopter operations were cancelled from March 3rd to 5th due to the security situation.
• Air traffic in the area has decreased substantially over the last three weeks due to a drop in NFI requests.
  

Muzaffarabad

• An ICRC Super Puma crashed near Muzaffarabad airport on March 9th. Both crew members were injured and flown to hospital in Islamabad, where their injuries are described as not life-threatening. No passengers were on board.
• The reasons for the accident remain unknown.
  

3.    CUSTOMS AND IMMIGRATION

• The 14.10.05 exemption from customs duty, regulatory duty and sales tax offered by the Pakistan government for the import of relief items will be withdrawn as of 15.03.06 for the import of blankets, tents and tarpaulins.
• After this date, only those relief goods complying with the conditions outlined under heading 9911 of the Pakistan Customs Tariff will be applicable for an NOC (No Objection Certificate).
  

4.    INFRASTRUCTURE AND STATIC ROAD ASSESSMENT

General

• UNJLC is coordinating an ongoing survey of roads in the affected area in order to further determine the most cost effective mode of transport to the affected area and improve the accuracy of its road and accessibility information products.
• UNOPS and UNDSS have been assisting in this process.
  

• Click for maps --> and detailed road assessments -->.

Bagh

• An alternative route from Bagh to Rawlakot via Nariola has been mapped by UNJLC and approved by UNDSS.
• This will serve as a contingency route in case the Mori Furman Shah road is closed due to flooding.
  

Batagram

• A member of the UNJLC GIS team has been in Batagram over the last week to work on completing the majority of essential Allai valley road assessments and GPS data collection.
• The Besham to Alpuri and Chakesar to Shapur roads in the Shandla District have now been assessed and tracked.
• Assessments for Patan to Shera Kot and Patan to Khurrat in Kohistan have also been completed.
  

Muzaffarabad

• Road assessments and GPS tracking are ongoing.
• The information is being processed and incorporated into the UNJLC road data set.
• Bridge information and repair status is also being collected and assimilated.
  

• The Muzaffarabad to Gahri Habibullah road has been assessed by UNJLC and UNDSS as a possible contingency route to Islamabad.
• A map has been produced by UNJLC showing the landslide locations along the Neelum and Jhelum valley roads.
• Some of these points have been cleared but road conditions remain affected and further slides in these locations are likely.
• For more information please see www.unjlc.org/pakistan/maps.
  

5.    LOGISTICS

General

• Plans for the transition from relief to return and recovery are being discussed by the Logistics Cluster.
• UNJLC's mandate is due to end on April 12th.  A questionnaire has been sent out to all Heads of Clusters regarding which UNJLC functions may be required after this date, not necessarily under UNJLC responsibility.
  

• Due to a lack of response to requests for forecast figures, Atlas Logistique will be forced to cease transport for all agencies which are not funded by ECHO and have not submitted forecasts.
• Agencies are invited to approach Atlas to discuss options if they wish Atlas to facilitate transport on their behalf.
  

• UNJLC has combined UNHCR origin data for the population currently in IDP camps with a road vulnerability layer to determine which of these areas of return may be inaccessible by road.
• This will assist in identifying potential bottlenecks during the return.
• For details please see www.unjlc.org/pakistan/maps.
  

Bagh

• Atlas will become the focal point for all Bagh region free trucking.
• IOM and Atlas fleet coordinators are liaising to ensure that the most efficient use is made of all Bagh-area trucking assets.
  

• The Logs Cluster is awaiting details from OCHA on the returnees package in order to proceed to future planning.
• Atlas and GOAL have been asked to pay a 700 rupee tax on each vehicle they rent.
• UNJLC is attempting to clarify the issue with the local authorities.
  

Batagram

• The closure of the local IDP camps is due to begin today (March 10th).
• Return data has been completed. The current local camp population is 20,000 spread over 5 camps.
• The local government and army will be supplying transportation for returnees.
• IOM expects to be able to fill in gaps in transportation needs.
• The return program will commence with the Mera and Maiden Camps.
  

• The 20% of the Mera population originating from Jambera and Batkul will leave first.
• The Maiden Camp expects an initial 36 families to begin the return. The camp currently accommodates 500 families.
• 30 vehicles will initially be supplied for Meira and 10 for Maidan.
• There will be a possible need for helicopter assets to support the return of those in Battera Camp due to the inaccessibility of the villages of origin.
• SCF will be distributing return packages in the Allai valley in collaboration with UNICEF.
• These will be conducted from a central point in Bana.
• They have sufficient stocks for the first wave of returnees and have planned for an ongoing supply of necessary items.
  

• There is a general slowing down of operations as the focus moves from return to recovery.
• In light of poor attendance and lessened activity in the Batagram area, local Logs Cluster meetings have been cancelled until further notice.
  

Muzaffarabad

• The Muzaffarabad UNDSS has submitted a new security plan to create a safety grading for roads.
• This plan would allow teams and vehicles to operate in dangerous, high risk areas officially classified as Red No Go if they comply with additional safety rules.
  

• These rules would include training in landslide threat analysis and first aid, movement in convoy, radio reporting and vehicles equipped with additional safety equipment including medical kits, hand tools and winches.
• The recent UNJLC, UNOPS and UNDSS collaboration on road assessment has been used as a prototype for this security plan.
• The plan remains subject to approval.
  

6.    CIVIL-MILITARY LOGS

Nothing further to report


7.    FUEL

Nothing further to report


8. NFI PIPELINE

General

• UNJLC is using the LSS data on pipeline and historical distribution data to make projections of tonnages by air and road cargo required.
• The updated incoming/on-order figures were released yesterday (March 9th) by UNJLC.
• The stock balance and cumulative distribution figures for February are being processed and are due for release on Monday.
• All LSS figures and products compiled by UNJLC have now been published on the UNJLC website. These include reports, maps, graphs, summaries and projections to date from the start of the project. They can be found at www.unjlc.org/pakistan/supply_chain/.
• The UNJLC cargo movement request procedure is prioritising cargo transport in favour of those agencies and NGOs who have provided their pipeline information to assist in forward planning.
  

• UNJLC is will be offering informal LSS training sessions to interested parties. These will be broken down into three sections for general information, logistics, and data/IT.
• The sessions will be held on Friday March 17th, Monday March 20th and Friday March 25th.
  

• The UNJLC cargo coordination cell has reported a backlog of 3776 MT of food and 339 MT of NFI. This is due to a decrease in air capacity and the slowdown in air operations because of bad weather and the security situation.

9. ROAD STATUS

General

• For latest road status updates and corresponding maps, see www.unjlc.org/pakistan.

Batagram

• The main routes in Alpuri have been assessed. Despite the damaged road surface it can support large capacity vehicles (10 MT).
• The route into the main part of the Palas valley is unpassable due to serious slides 7km from Patan.
• The alternative main route to Shera Kot is open but considered 4WD only.
  

• Three routes are still closed in Allai: Bana to Pashto is blocked after 6.5km, Rashang to Gangwal after 1km, and Bana to Guntar after 5.7km.

Muzaffarabad

• The Jhelum Valley has now been cleared and is no longer considered Red No Go.

10. WAREHOUSING

General

• WFP interagency warehousing was established to accommodate the transit of relief goods.
• With the transition from relief to recovery, WFP is now requesting all actors in the operation to communicate their potential interagency warehousing requirements for the relief and recovery phase of the mission.
  

• For the latest summary of warehouse capacity, location maps and contacts, go to www.unjlc.org/pakistan.

Bagh

• Warehousing is at capacity and all agencies are advised to ensure that sufficient space is available before shipping relief goods to the district.
• GOAL is potentially leaving the Chamiati temporary warehouse site and would be willing to facilitate the extended rental of the land with the current landlord.
• IOM are planning to give up their interagency warehouse. UNICEF are in negotiations to take it over as a single agency storage facility.
  

• This will further reduce local interagency storage capacity.

Batagram

• The current warehousing capacity in Bana is judged sufficient.
• Space is available at the CARE warehouse on a needs approved basis.
  

11. COMMODITY AVAILABILITY

• For details of suppliers in the affected area see the UNJLC yellow pages at www.unjlc.org/pakistan.

12. OTHER INFORMATION

General

• The official closure date for UN staff accommodation camps is March 31st.
• Agencies are encouraged to forward their projections to WFP as soon as possible for planning purposes.
  

Bagh

• The contract for the UN accommodation camp in Bagh ends on 31st March. Discussions over the terms of extension are ongoing.
• Should the camp close, UNJLC is planning to set up a base with OCHA, HIC and UNHAS to provide a single UN Common Services office.
  

• This is subject to approval from the field manager.

Batagram

• The Batagram UN staff accommodation camp will be closing on March 31st, unless further funding is found.
• This closure could affect the future of the shared office facilities.