Earthquake: from rubble to recovery in two years

ISLAMABAD—Recovery and reconstruction have replaced survival and seeking relief as the focus for the people of northern Pakistan two years after the devastating earthquake, which killed more than 73,000 people and made over 3.5 million homeless. For the first winter in two years since the quake, the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are able to focus fully on recovery activities and not have to mount an emergency relief operation for quake-affected communities, PTV reported.
In winter last year, the PRCS and the International Federation were gearing up for a massive ‘winter assistance programme with tens of thousands of people facing a second winter without sufficient warm shelter.
The operation was a success with more than 18,000 families in remote areas provided with tonnes of materials and relief items to help them cope with the Himalayan winter.
Over 1.1 million people have now received emergency relief assistance from the PRCS and International Federation.
While life is still hard, the vulnerability of affected people has been reduced with most of them back in their villages and rebuilding their lives.
The PRCS and the International Federation, having dealt with the relief challenge, are going ahead with recovery projects such as reconstruction, livelihoods, healthcare, improving water and sanitation, and increasing communities’ resilience to disasters.
To ensure the job is done properly, the earthquake operation of the International Federation of Red Cross is being extended for another year through until 2009.
The PRCS/International Federation and other Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement partners are undertaking 42 reconstruction projects of public facilities.
By the end of 2007, 25 school and medical facility projects will be underway. All projects are aimed to be completed in late 2008 or early 2009.
PRCS Secretary General Khalid Kibryia said the reconstruction of facilities such as schools and medical centres is in keeping with the National Society’s community-based focus.
“We have gone to sites and talked to communities, various stakeholders in the area to ensure that when we reconstruct a particular facility it meets the requirements of the community. There cannot be any white elephants,” he said.
Recovery work continues across other areas. Nearly 90,000 people have improved access to water through repaired or /rebuilt water supply schemes and the PRCS/International Federation will increase that total to 160,000 by mid-2009. Mobile health teams continue to reach up to 2,000 people a week in far-flung villages and will continue that support until the health infrastructure is re-established. —APP