Last October's earthquake in Pakistan and India marked the first time a new approach to ermercency respones - the Cluster Approach was used. A new report form ActionAid looks at how this UN developed plan - to focus action around distinct clusters such as water and sanitation, health, emergency shelter and early recovery and reconstrcution played out in Pakistan.

The South Asia earthquake on 8 October 2006 claimed at least 73,000 lives. Measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, it left many others without food, clothes and shelter to face the harsh winter.

So far, through ActionAid International’s emergency response, thousands of tents, packs of food and basic supplies such as blankets, as well as medical supplies, have been distributed in Pakistan.

Within a week of the earthquake, ActionAid was delivering relief aid in an area that is extremely inaccessible, as well as being politically sensitive.

The many challenges faced by those implementing the emergency response included getting to grips with a new approach to humanitarian response being developed by the UN – the cluster approach.

A new report - The Evolving UN Cluster Approach in the Aftermath of the Pakistan Earthquake: an NGO perspective - draws from the experiences of UN agencies, international, national, and local NGOs, and donors in responding to the earthquake to present an analysis of the cluster experience in Pakistan, along with recommendations for the future.