Over the past couple of months, Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) has implemented a relief programme for tens of thousands of Pakistani families displaced by the ongoing Waziristan conflict .

QRC is also making a needs assessment for more specific interventions in the most critical sectors.

QRC was one of the first humanitarian organisations to intervene and help the populations affected by the fighting, which has since July displaced nearly 1mn people from northern Pakistan, more than 95,000 (20,000 families) of whom reached Khost province, southeastern Afghanistan, while 17,000 reached Paktika province. More are moving daily.

An initial humanitarian assessment showed serious shortfalls in sheltering tents to protect the refugees from the hot sun, cold nights and storms. Also, there is a dire need for food and non-food materials such as blankets, mattresses and covers, as well as clean drinking water and healthcare.

Most of the refugees live under trees in the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan and a few use the straw mats that they could carry while fleeing the war. Only a handful of humanitarian organisations responded to the crisis, providing assistance to no more than 4,000 families out of 20,000 in Khost alone.

One of the major destinations of the refugees, the region chosen for the QRC urgent relief programme was not targeted by any other humanitarian intervention, whether due to rough roads or insecurity.

The QRC delegation co-operated with Afghan Red Crescent (ARC) in the selection and distribution, which included 300 packages containing 1,126kg of basic food products such as flour, rice, sugar, salt, vegetables and food oil each, as well as 300 non-food packages containing four blankets, one straw mat, one 20-litre water container and kitchenware.

Additional 500 families received food assistance from QRC through the ARC staff.

The recipients expressed happiness with the distributions, the first since the beginning of the clashes.

Haj Mohamed Kassem, ARC head in Khost, said: “We appreciate the Qatari initiative to help the refugees. The State of Qatar is the first Muslim country to respond to the humanitarian tragedy here and we thank them for this generous action.

“The number of refugees is too large for us at ARC to act alone. QRC’s assistance came at the right time, but more interventions are still badly needed. There are 20,000 families living in the open, with nothing to withstand the cold nights and hot days or to relieve their hunger.”