World appreciative of Pak quake management: Tahir
By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD—Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas (KANA) Maj. (retd) Tahir Iqbal has said that despite having several shortcomings and lack of resources, the whole Pakistani nation stood to the huge challenge posed by the deadly earthquake on October 8, and the entire world is appreciative of the disaster management by Pakistan government and the nation.
He was addressing "One-Day Seminar on Post Relief, Recovery and Rehabilitation" held under the aegis of Muslim Hands International here on Monday. The event was organised on the eve of first anniversary of the deadly earthquake to review the process of ongoing reconstruction and rehabilitation in the affected areas. Deputy Chairman ERRA Maj. General Nadeem, former minister Haji
Hanif Tayyeb, Country Representative Muslim Hands International Syed Zia Mehmood, notables from civil society, NGOs, earthquake-affected areas participated while renowned journalist Syed Talat Hussain moderated the proceedings. Tahir Iqbal said the world community is still overwhelmed how exemplary display of recovery and rehabilitation was undertaken by the people of Pakistan, Pakistan Army, NGOs, civil society and volunteers.
He said this time ripe to valuate the shortcomings and gaps in the relief activity to finalise a foolproof plans and alternative strategies to tackle such calamity situations in future. He said the federal government only formulates a cohesive policy while its implementation lies with the provincial and district governments with the help of NGOs and civil society organisations.
He said the government is closely monitoring the reconstruction phase and any official involved in any wrongdoing would be held accountable. Deputy Chairman ERRA Maj. General Nadeem said soon after the earthquake hit the areas, the Pakistan Army launched the helicopter service for evacuation of the affected people.
"In the initial stages, the situation was not clear, but as the news of huge disaster were received, the army launched a massive rescue operation within no time," he said and added the local people were either killed or affected due to the earthquake and could not contribute to the rescue operations.
"The rest of the locals were traumatised and horrified and could not join the rescue teams who were unaware of the local environment and traditions. On the other hand, relief goods were being pumped in from all over the country as well as the whole world, it was difficult to reach out far-flung affected areas but Pakistani nation, army and NGOs did all," he said.
Maj. General Nadeem said the reconstruction process is just like rebuilding a new country and the ERRA was ensuring quality, availability and price control of the construction material in the affected areas.
He said approximately all the schools, hospitals and other infrastructure was functional in the affected areas but were short of relevant staff. Talat Hussain said the main hurdle in formalizing the disaster management policy was the lack of data management infrastructure. He proposed that there should be a mechanism to transmit the government policies to the common man in the affected areas so as the general public could be aware of the facilities being provided by the government.
He was of the view that the earthquake had also brought anopportunity to the people of Pakistan as well as the whole world as they 're-discovered' Pakistan during the relief operation. "Most of far-flung hilly areas were so ignored that even Pakistani people had never visited those areas. The relief operations provided the nation with the chance to re-discover these areas," he said.
Stressing the need to following official building codes and ensuring earthquake-resistant houses during the reconstruction phase, the veteran journalist pointed out that most of deaths during the deadly earthquake occurred due to the violation of the building codes.
Country Representative Muslim Hands International Syed Zia Mehmood said as his organization had the honour to officiate in so many disastrous situations, the efforts of Pakistani government and nation during the relief and rehabilitation process were unmatched. "Despite an assistance of $ 6 billion by the world community for Tsunami affectees, there are no signs of reconstruction. Pakistan government is doing unequalled services in this regard and its services are being admired world- wide," he said the collaborated efforts of Pakistani government, people, NGOs and world community were giving hope to the quake affectees.
However, he urged the international and national NGOs to not to disturb the values and traditions of the quake-affected people. He said the credit of attracting the attention of international community towards the calamity of October last went to the dynamic role of media which projected the cause in an unprecedented manner.