On Sunday 22 May, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government declared a state of emergency due to the raging forest fire at Koh-e-Suleman mountain range located in the Sherani district, north-west of Balochistan Province.
The fire was observed a week ago and expanded over the weekend, destroying to date an estimated 30% of the UNESCO-heritage pine-nut forest.
Three people died and four others were injured so far, while an estimated 4,000 individuals are displaced and living with families.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has been charged to lead the response. The military has been deployed with aircraft, however both the civilian administration and military are challenged in addressing the fire. Pakistan has now sought aircraft assistance from Teheran and one aircraft was expected to arrive yesterday.
DG ECHO field office and the EU Delegation are following the situation and will attend today the Economics Affairs Division Islamabad (EAD) meeting on the crisis.