With
the arrival of warmer weather, many of the survivors of last
year’s earthquake in Pakistan have returned to their villages,
which are still in ruins.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
is continuing to support the Pakistan Red Crescent Society in
assisting survivors with reconstruction and health care.
The Indus River winds through a narrow canyon and then widens
as it approaches a suspension bridge near the village of Jambera,
in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province.
In places where the current lets up a bit, children play water
games – some paddle around on inner tubes while others
dive for trout. Anyone watching this boisterous scene would
find it hard to believe that six short months ago, this area
was reduced to rubble by the quake, which killed over 73,000
people and made more than 3.5 million homeless.
In the village’s heavily damaged mosque, the nasim, or
village head, announces the arrival of a Red Cross Red Crescent
medical team over a loudspeaker system. The team sets up their
tent in the village square since the local medical dispensary,
which was destroyed by the earthquake, will have to be rebuilt.
Since November 2005, a doctor, two nurses and two immunisation
specialists have been paying weekly visits to Jambera, in Pakistan’s
Besham district, to provide medical care to local villagers.
Around 10,000 people are estimated to live in the surrounding
area, which stretches alongside the river and includes hamlets
scattered high up on the steep mountain slopes.
This morning, 50 small children are immunized and 90 patients
are examined by the team. Out of respect for traditional customs
and traditions, the women are shown into the tent, while the
men and children are taken care of outside.
Dysentery, respiratory ailments and skin rashes are some of
the most common problems afflicting the quake survivors. Dr.
Hayat Ali Shah explains that the team “doesn’t simply
hand out medicine”. He says that they also make people
aware of the need for good hygiene practices, such as boiling
water for drinking.
The pipe that used to bring water from a mountain spring to
the village was damaged by the earthquake and the water is still
contaminated. Hydraulic engineers from the International Federation
are expected to repair it in the coming weeks.
The International Federation has also set up two medical teams
that travel all over the Besham area and visit eight villages
on a regular basis.
Project Coordinator, Anne-Marie Delaney, says the two units
will need to keep working until 2008, because rebuilding the
region’s destroyed health infrastructure will require
more time.
“We are working with our Pakistani counterparts to improve
women’s and children’s health,” she explains.
“Health education and the training of female health workers
are two essential components of our activities.”
Traditionally, women and girls can only be examined by other
women, so female volunteers and health workers play a key role
in ensuring that everyone affected by the earthquake has access
to medical care.
Up on the steep slopes of the Allai Valley, terrace grain crops
come in varying shades of green. The landscape is dotted with
apricot and cherry trees in bloom.
In the distance, children watch over a group of grazing goats
and sheep while humming a soft shepherd’s tune. A mudslide
caused by recent violent storms has blocked the usual path,
so we travel the last few kilometres up the rugged mountainside
on foot. It’s an exhausting climb.
Over the next patch of rock, the scattered houses of Pashtoo
village stretch out before us. The earthquake spared only a
few buildings in the village. Using what remained of building
walls, survivors used boards, tarpaulins and corrugated iron
to create makeshift shelters, which helped them get through
the winter.
With the arrival of spring, families who found refuge in a tent
camp further down the mountain have also returned to the higher
parts of the valley. All around, people are busy cutting stone
blocks to repair their houses.
Jhangir Asslam and his five sons are preparing to rebuild their
home.
To date, he has received 25,000 rupees, or around 500 Swiss
francs, as part of the government’s owner-driven housing
reconstruction scheme. The authorities have promised to give
a series of cash grants totalling around 175,000 rupees to individuals
so they can rebuild their own homes.
“We want to have a roof over our heads by next winter,”
explains Jhangir. With a shelter built on his own patch of land,
he’ll be able to take care of his family thanks to a small
herd of cows.
In March, the Red Cross Red Crescent team stationed in Banna,
the main village in the Allai valley, stepped up its distribution
of corrugated iron and shelter repair tools to villagers. During
the first six months after the earthquake, around 14,000 families
benefited from this form of aid.
The roofing materials, which were provided by the Swiss Red
Cross, will come in handy during the transition period from
spring to summer. When the monsoon season starts in July, temporary
shelters will protect the inhabitants from the elements until
more permanent homes can be built.
Over the longer term, the Red Cross Red Crescent also plans
to invest in promoting healthcare and training volunteers, as
it is already doing in Besham district.
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The
inhabitants carry the roofing (in this case corrugated
iron) provided by the Red Cross all the way to the village.
During the monsoons, which begin in July, the temporary
shelters will protect the inhabitants from the elements
until their new homes are built. (p14046)
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The
little girls of Pashtoo, in Allai Valley, are also eager
for rebuilding to begin. (p14042)
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Children
suffer most from the lack of hygiene and safe water, and
the mobile health teams make people aware of the need
to boil water for drinking. (p14043)
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Back
in their village, levelled by the earthquake, the men
of Pashtoo are getting down to business. In the first
six months after the earthquake, 14,000 families received
corrugated iron and tools from the International Federation.
(p14039)
In the village of Jambera, Dr Hayat Ali Shah is bandaging
a patient’s foot in the open-air “surgery”,
fitted out by the Red Crescent mobile medical team. (p14040)
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