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

• UNDSS presence at Logs Cluster meetings has again been requested to keep implementing partners informed of security developments.
• The holy month of Muharram will begin around February 1st. The 10th of Muharram (Ashura) will fall around February 10th/11th, during which the traditional processions will be held in all major cities and towns around the country. In the past, tension has been observed throughout this month due to sectarian violence in various parts of the country. All staff members are advised to take personal security measures and avoid the procession areas in their respective duty stations.
  
• Advisories indicating the exact procession routes in the various duty stations will be issued as soon as possible.

• There have been incidents of people burning the Danish and French flags following a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed appearing in a Danish newspaper and subsequently elsewhere in Europe.

Bagh

• The route from Bagh through Rawalakot to Islamabad remains closed to internationals. UNDSS and UNJLC have been refused permission to use it as a contingency route in case of road closures due to bad weather. Discussions are still ongoing with the FRC.
• UNDSS and the local authorities are trying to determine the scope of regional activity over the period of Muharran. However, minimal Shiite presence in the region suggests the threat of tension is low. 
• An incident involving a local Transport Union representative threatening NGO and agency contracted drivers is being followed up by the local authorities.
  

Batagram

• After Friday afternoon prayer last week, a large group of people were chanting anti-American and anti-Western slogans. UNDSS has since advised agencies to limit their movements on Friday afternoons between 12:00 and 16:00.
• There has been a policy change regarding some of the routes in the Batagram area.
• Escorts are no longer necessary on the KKH between Chatterplain and Besham.
• UNDSS is now allowing international staff to travel the road from Thakot to Bana. However, overnight stays in Bana are still not permitted.
• Travel beyond the Batagram-Chappegram area still requires security clearance and 30-minute radio checks.
  

Mansehra

• UNDSS has banned movement out of Mansehra after 19:30, and within Mansehra city a 21:00 curfew applies. 24-hour notice for police escort is mandatory for any travel off the main roads.
• No escort is required for movement along the main roads.

• Restrictions in Mansehra may be imposed during the Ashura period (around February 10th/11th).
• Mansehra police and military have prepared a tightened security plan for these days and additional forces will be deployed in the area. Agencies and NGOs are advised to stop all movements after 18:00 over these days.

• Last Friday at 6 am, an NGO truck was stopped by six armed men on while returning to Mansehra after a delivery. The driver and his assistant were robbed and beaten.

Muzaffarabad

• An NGO driver and staff members were attacked and threatened after their involvement in a minor car accident.

2.    AIR OPERATIONS

General

• The US Military will hand over its fuel farm in Muzaffarabad to the Pakistan Military when it withdraws at the end of March.
• Two German CH-53s will remain in-country after the NATO withdrawal under a bilateral agreement with the Pakistan Government.
• 4-5 of the UNHAS helicopters will be grounded for 4 days in February for heavy maintenance.
• USD$ 88m will be required to maintain UNHAS air operations through the end of December. This provides for 20 helicopters until June 1st and 13 up until September 31st.
• IOM and UNHAS have agreed on an arrangement for packing and sling loading CGI sheeting. Requests for crates are to be made through UNJLC at the time of lodging the cargo movement request and they will be transported to the point of airlift. IOM will provide these crates free of charge to any organisation that requests them. The crates are designed to hold 8 CGI sheets (which is approximately the number of sheets required per family dwelling). It also means that they can be handled by just a couple of people. 
• Due to construction and delivery time, organisations will need to add an extra 2-3 days to the intended movement date. For more information see www.unjlc.org/pakistan/air.
• When blankets and GCI are being transported to the same location, the blankets have proven an effective packing alternative.
  

Batagram

• The use of air assets to transport goods into areas accessible by road has become an issue.
• The UNJLC cargo movement cell will now receive daily reports in regards to Batagram-area road accessibility.
  

• Malteser International is planning on moving 250 tons of NFI into Kohistan. Cargo movement requests have already been filed for 50 MT.
• In order to accommodate requests by WFP and Malteser International, an interagency assessment is underway in Kohistan to find a temporary base for air operations near Pattan.
  

• ACTED has requested possible helicopter operations in Khala Dhaka.  UNJLC and UNHAS are examining the possibilities since this is in tribal lands.
• UNHAS advised the need for drop team assessments of possible sites.
  

• A lack of nets at Chatterplain and the slow return of nets by implementing partners are hampering UNHAS sling operations in the area. Implementing partners should return slings before receiving additional commodities. An additional 32 nets are expected soon.

Bagh

• The WFP operation to transport goods into Molan Wali has been successfully completed.
• During the recent celebration of Eid, the Bagh heliport was used for local gatherings, causing air operations to cease. There is some concern that the same thing may take place during Muharran.
• UNJLC has asked UNDSS to investigate.
  

Muzaffarabad

• An UNHAS Mi26 has caused some damage to local infrastructure around Muzaffarabad airport due to its strong downdraft during landing. Some residents have been seeking compensation.
• ICRC plans to start sling operations this week starting with one helicopter and increasing to six with a goal of reaching 200MT per day. UNHAS and ICRC will take this up with ATC in Muzaffarabad to address its feasibility and potential problems of congestion.
• MSF has agreed to the use of its Squirrels for medevacs of the local population in times of need. 
• This will be co-ordinated through their flight operator at Muzaffarabad.
  Tel: 0300 856 0358.
  

3.    CUSTOMS AND IMMIGRATION
Nothing further to report

4.    INFRASTRUCTURE AND STATIC ROAD ASSESSMENT

General

• UNJLC is offering to provide GPS units and training for those participating in data collection and road assessments. As part of this project, UNJLC GIS experts held a three-day workshop in Mansehra last week to train multi-agency spontaneous camp assessment teams in GPS and data gathering techniques.
• This coming week will see the expansion of the UNJLC map catalogue. For more information and detailed road assessments go to http://www.unjlc.org/pakistan/land/.
  

Bagh

The following areas are considered actual/potential 'proceed with caution areas' due to poor road conditions:

• The road from Mansehra to Balakot town has been assessed. It is considered dangerous and is a Red-No-Go to UN agencies.

5.    LOGISTICS

General

• The NATO redeployment is almost complete in accordance with its February 1st withdrawal date.
• IOM has offered to provide free sea container (FLC) transportation from Karachi to Islamabad for NGOs. This service will be coordinated through the normal UNJLC cargo movement request system. For more information please see www.unjlc.org/pakistan. 
• The backlog of NFI resulting from a few days of bad weather in January has now been cleared. The UNJLC cargo movement request program has seen a 23% increase in requests over this last month.
  

Bagh

• The new Atlas secondary transport operation in Bagh is proceeding well and an interagency temporary warehouse has now been established.
• The Rawalakot operation is in the planning process, likely location Hajira. 

• RRR high altitude teams have established an operation from Bagh and are working on covering certain areas which have so far been overlooked. They have already begun construction work on shelter frames in these areas.

Batagram

• Atlas logistique has reaffirmed its ability to provide free transport in the Batagram district.
• UNICEF and IOM are working together to transport goods into the Thakot and Allai valley areas.
• Items destined for the Allai valley are generally offloaded from big trucks onto smaller vehicles, causing bottlenecks at IOM's Chappegram operation and Chatterplain. WFP and UNJLC investigating the possibility of establishing a ground movement hub in Thakot to ease this problem.
• WFP has volunteered 1 storage unit
• On-site, fixed rate transport companies are being considered to provide carry-on transport.
• IOM is examining the possibility of moving to this location
  

Mansehra

• The assessment of spontaneous camps in the Mansehra district is continuing. UNJLC has provided GPS training to those working on the project.

Muzaffarabad

• UNOPS high altitude teams have been dispatched this week to assess the needs of inaccessible areas including Bheri, north of Patika, and its surrounding valley.

6.    CIVIL-MILITARY LOGS

Batagram

• UNJLC is liaising with the Pakistan Military to have the Thakot to Karband Kala Dhaka road opened to internationals.

7. FUEL

General

• UNJLC has conducted a fuel survey to provide logistics support and recommendations to the relief operation in Pakistan. The resulting report provides background on the country's existing fuel supply chain, storage, distribution and local pricing systems, and examines the requirements of the humanitarian community. For more information, go to www.unjlc.org/pakistan.

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.
• UNJLC has been requesting information on on-order, in stock and distributed NFIs from agencies for the month of January. Data up to the end of December 2005 has been consolidated.
• UNJLC field staff are coordinating with agencies and NGOs in their areas to bring in data on current stock positions and distributed items.
  

9. ROAD STATUS

General

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

Batagram

• The road from Bana-Pashto will open in approximately 7 days, weather permitting. (Source: Pak Mil)
• The other blocked road in the Allai valley will be cleared in the following order of priority: 1) Bana-Tandol  2)Bana -Guntar  3) Rashang-Gangwal. (source: Pakmil)
  

Mansehra

• Reports from NGOs indicate that the Ghanol bridge and the roads up to Kaghan are now open. However the Pakistan Military Engineers wish to stress that so far this only applies to 4WD vehicles.
• IFRC have approximately 10,000 winterised tents available.
  

10. WAREHOUSING

General

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

Batagram

• Interagency Storage Situation:
• Batagram has 3 dedicated 10x32 temporary warehouses.
• Chatterplain has 3 interagency temporary warehouses (2 10x32, 1 10x40).
• Oxfam has been paired with WFP to alleviate lack of warehouse space.
• The Albhukary Care center has agreed to let other organizations use some of its extra storage space on a temporary case-by-case basis.  Requests should be made through UNJLC Batagram. 
• The road to this storage site is restricted to small vehicles.
  

• Warehouse space is a serious issue in Chatterplain. Items should only be taken there on a short-term basis when goods have already been tasked for onward air movement.
• New Interagency Storage policy for planned sites at Thakot and Pattan and Chatterplain. (Does not apply to dedicated Storage units)
• Organizations can only use site for 7-10 days.
• Organizations will only be allowed space with proof that the goods have been tasked for forward movement.
• Agencies must provide a weekly stock report to concerned hub managers.
• Emergency situations will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
  

• One 40x10 storage unit will be fully dedicated to CARE.
• Other 2 interagency storage Units 32x10 to be full interagency use.
  

Pattan (Kohistan)

• 1 Storage unit is being ordered in anticipation of a temporary Air cargo site.

Kala Dahka

• ACTED will receive one 7x9 Storage unit from WFP interagency for dedicated use in Judbar, accessible only from Thakot. It will also have access to spare space in the WFP 32x10 Storage unit at Bandi Shugli in Oghi Tehshil.
  

Bagh

• The ATLAS/WFP Interagency temporary warehouse is up and running.
• WFP has confirmed that it will continue to provide warehouse space through 2006, though the number and location of the warehouses may be rationalised.
  

Mansehra
The lack of interagency warehouse space at Garhi Habibullah, which also serves Balakot, is an issue. The two existing structures are at capacity.

11. COMMODITY AVAILABILITY

General

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

Bagh

• CGI still not visible for sale anywhere other than one store in Dhirkot and Rawalakot.
• CGI sheeting for sale in Dhirkot:
  

• Good quality 10' X 32" - 750 rupees
• Lesser quality 10' x 32" - 500 rupees
• Lesser quality 12' X 32" - 700 rupees.
  

12. OTHER INFORMATION

Batagram

• The DEMA Basecamp in Batagram has been a problem due to overcrowding and safety factors.  A directive has been agreed by the HC and local UN heads of agencies that all agencies should arrange private accommodation by Feb. 15th. The camp will close down on March 31st. A potential house has already been found.
• As of 29/1 all agencies have moved into their offices to the Batagram View Hotel.
  

Bagh

• OCHA have been driving a proactive coordination project between all players to prepare for the transition process.

For further information pakistan.infoteam@unjlc.org.