USAID trains army engineers for urban quake assessments
By Ali Imran

Islamabad—Engineers trained in earthquake damage assessment by a program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are now inspecting up to 20 homes a day in the cities of Muzaffarabad, Bagh and Rawalakot.
Along with social workers and financial advisers, the assessment teams are evaluating damage and advising homeowners on how to access reconstruction funds provided by the Government of Pakistan's Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA).
Based on initial damage assessments, each owner of a structurally damaged house will receive an initial payment of 75,000 rupees to start rebuilding. Homeowners will then receive an additional 75,000 rupees after they begin reconstruction, on the condition that they use earthquake resistant designs and building principles.
The USAID training, provided by the National Society of Earthquake Reconstruction (NSET), a Nepalese organization, trained 45 Army engineers and 13 Housing Reconstruction Center staff in two three-day workshops held in August.
Since November 2005, USAID and NSET have provided instruction in assessment and earthquake-resistant construction methods to 723 Army engineers, 263 civilian engineers, and 532 skilled laborers such as masons and carpenters. An additional 102 professionals have been taught to become trainers themselves, leading to a total of over 7,600 engineers and professionals across the earthquake-affected areas having completed training in safe building methods.
This training is part of USAID's efforts to help institutionalize a system for earthquake-resistant construction throughout Pakistan's seismically volatile areas that will mitigate the effect of future earthquakes.
The U.S. Government is spending $200 million to rebuild structures damaged in last October's earthquake, $510 million in total earthquake relief and reconstruction and $1.5 billion in overall development aid to Pakistan over the next five years.