By Syed Haider Ali & Andrea Swinburne-Jones

After consultation with the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum consortium and assessing needs and the government's and general NGO capacity, World Vision has decided not to respond to the earthquake now.

Yesterday afternoon, the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum, an emergency consortium, of which World Vision Pakistan is a member, met to discuss the earthquake. Numerous PHF members provided information from some initial assessments conducted. Information gathered indicated that the current disaster was not large scale.

'Four INGOs that were on the ground prior to the disaster are currently providing assistance, and the government and military have mobilised a good response. Based on this information, World Vision Pakistan has decided to not respond to this disaster for the time being,' said Graham Strong, World Vision Pakistan Country Director.

Relief efforts in terms of blankets, tents and food are being provided. Most of the organisations who responded immediately were those already working in Balochistan.

World Vision does not have any programs in the affected province of Balochistan.

The 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck about 70 kilometres north of Quetta, just after 4am local time Wednesday.

The official death toll from the earthquake is 215, with 500 people injured and more than 15,000 displaced. Some 170 people, mainly women and children, were killed in Ziarat alone.

Some 2-3,000 houses have been reported damaged and 500 have collapsed. In the city of Ziarat, houses are either partially or severely damaged. Dozens of schools, hospitals, government buildings and mosques have been destroyed and the roads linking Ziyarat with affected villages were blocked by landslides.

The main areas affected by the earthquake are Harnai, Qilla Abdullah, Vaam, Kelli Zargoom, Bolan, Sibi, Pishin, Loralai, Kohlu, Mastung, Kalat, Dera Murad Jamali, Sani Shooran, Chaman, Toba Achakzai, and Zhob.

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has requested 2,000 tents and 5,000 blankets so far, to assist survivors.

PHF has developed a web-based co-ordination system, allowing the consortium to determine the category and level of any given disaster in Pakistan. According to PHF members, the current disaster was classified as a Category 1 with a Level One Response. The situation will be reviewed on a regular basis and if new information becomes available PHF will re-classify the disaster.

The emergency consortium, developed following the October 2005 earthquake that killed more than 73,000 people and injured a similar number. World Vision assisted more than 116,000 people in the past 3 years through its earthquake relief and rehabilitation project, to rebuild their lives.