How many IDPs?
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Pakistan, as of April 28 there were 462,912 internally displaced persons (IDPs) outside camps in NWFP, and 93,627 at IDP camps. But the IDP figures were constantly changing. “We registered 4,000 more displaced persons by May 5,” the UNHCR office in Islamabad said. The NGO Helping Hands Relief and Development told local media around 500 displaced families had taken shelter in four temporary camps in Lower Dir based around school or college buildings. “The government is not only fully aware of the situation but also capable of meeting any challenge,” Jamil Ahmed of the Islamabad-based National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) told a meeting of aid agencies in Islamabad on May 1. However, a separate meeting of Pakistani politicans and NGOs in Geneva on 27 April indicated that unofficial local government estimates put the number of IDPs in NWFP at up to one million, with 80 percent not in camps. Participants expressed concern at the worseni
