Six
months have gone by since the devastating earthquake, which
killed over 73,000 people and left more than 3.5 million homeless
in northern Pakistan. Today, many of the survivors, who fled
their mountain homes following the disaster, have returned,
while others have begun the arduous task of rebuilding their
shattered lives.
The road to recovery is a long one and much work remains to
be done but with the support of the Red Cross Red Crescent,
it is hoped that the quake-affected communities will become
even more resilient in the future and that vital services, such
as health care, education, and water and sanitation can be strengthened.
Since 8 October, 2005, the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS)
and the International Federation have managed to get life-saving
assistance to hundreds of thousands of people living in some
of northern Pakistan’s most isolated villages.
Recently, a major Red Cross Red Crescent airlift operation delivered
almost 100 tonnes of relief and recovery items to 500 families
living in Kaghan Valley – a remote area, surrounded by
snow-capped mountains, located about an eight-hour’s drive
northeast of Islamabad.
Over the past six months, the valley has been regularly cut
off to road traffic because of heavy snowfalls and landslides,
while poor weather conditions have also made it difficult to
reach the region by helicopter.
Residents say the Red Cross Red Crescent is the only major humanitarian
organization that has managed to get significant amounts of
aid to the communities living there since the disaster.
As part of its airlift operation at the end of March, the PRCS,
with the support of the International Federation, used dozens
of helicopters to deliver essential relief items, including
corrugated iron sheeting, blankets, shelter repair kits, kerosene
lamps and buckets to around 3,500 people in the region.
Rashid Ahmad, who is one of the valley’s 30,000 inhabitants,
says the ongoing assistance provided by the Red Cross Red Crescent
has been crucial.
“For the first few weeks after the earthquake, we were
very isolated and had to rely on ourselves and our instincts
to survive,” says the 28-year-old. “Then Pakistan
Red Crescent volunteers arrived in mid-December and gave us
tents and supplies and helped us to get through the winter months.”
The arrival of spring has brought a hint of green to the terraced
mountainsides and Rashid says now, peoples’ main priority
is to rebuild their homes and return to the way life once was.
The residents of Kaghan, who live in traditional stone and wood
houses known as “katcha,” are accustomed to harsh
living conditions. But the earthquake, which measured 7.6 on
the Richter scale, has made their lives even more challenging.
Aftershocks can still be felt today and many homes and buildings
remain too unstable to live or work in.
To date, the PRCS and the International Federation have distributed
500 shelter repair kits and over 5,000 sheets of corrugated
iron to villagers in the region, who haul the materials up steep
mountain paths to their homes using mules and jeeps or on their
backs.
Each family receives 10 corrugated iron sheets, which can be
used as roofing material and to clad the sides of shelters,
as well as a repair kit, including a shovel, axe, hammer, saw,
nails, hooks and metal wire.
“It may seem really basic but when your home has been
reduced to rubble, these types of tools and materials can make
a huge difference,” says Syed Ali Hassan, the head of
operations for the PRCS’s provincial branch in the North
West Frontier Province.
“Providing them with the means to rebuild their homes
is just the first step towards rebuilding communities…
and that’s where the focus of our efforts will be over
the coming months and even years,” he adds.
As the spring planting season arrives, people in Kaghan are
also eager to regain their livelihoods and begin cultivating
small patches of land. “Now we have the tools to repair
our homes, but we also want to get back to work and that’s
why we need seeds to plant and training in areas such as carpentry,”
says Rashid.
As part of its revised appeal and plan of action for Pakistan,
the International Federation has outlined a three-year programme,
with a budget of 227 million Swiss francs ($172 million USD
/ € 145 million), to help remote communities, like those
in Kaghan, to re-establish livelihoods, repair and rebuild vital
infrastructures, and provide health, education and psycho-social
support services for the earthquake survivors.
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Syed
Ali Hassan, of the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (near
left), talks to Rashid Ahmad (centre) and other Kaghan
villagers about the recovery needs in the region. (p13889)
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Asif
Alisiddiqua, a Pakistan Red Crescent Society volunteer,
helps villagers load corrugated iron sheets onto a jeep
to be driven high up in the mountains of Kaghan Valley.(p13892)
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Corrugated
iron sheeting is used to reinforce and insulate traditional
"katcha" houses and community shelters, which
are made of stone and wood. (p13886)
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A
villager picks up relief items at a distribution point
in an open field. Each family receives seven blankets,
several shawls, metal wire, a bucket and a kerosene lamp,
as well as a shelter repair kit from the Pakistan Red
Crescent Society. (p13887)
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Each
shelter repair kit includes a shovel, hammer, pick axe,
saw, nails and hooks. These tools are used to improve
damaged dwellings and build new homes. (p13884)
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