A
year after the devastating Pakistan earthquake, business is
booming for Abdul Hameed, who uses corrugated galvanized iron
(CGI) sheets to construct shelters and buildings.
Over the past year, there has been a massive upsurge in the
building of “CGI townships,” which have sprouted
up amid the reconstruction process.
And as another winter approaches, the demand for the sheets,
which are used for roofing and to clad the sides of buildings,
is only growing stronger.
For 20-year-old Abdul, a resident of the small village of Narrah
near Balakot in the North West Frontier Province, business might
be good but reflecting on the one-year anniversary of the disaster,
it’s clear that his emotional wounds are far from healed.
“It feels as if it happened yesterday… The pain
it gave to our people can never be forgotten,” says Abdul.
“It will be remembered, always, as a dreadful reality.”
When the 7.6 earthquake struck, it left more than 73, 000 people
dead, at least 30,000 of whom were children. A total of 40,000
children became orphans on that fateful day.
However, there has been good progress in the 12 months since
the disaster, with the International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies working with the Pakistan Red Crescent
Society as part of a massive relief, recovery and reconstruction
effort.
While the relief phase can be deemed a success, with no feared
second wave of death occurring last winter, many survivors remain
highly vulnerable heading into their second winter since the
quake.
Abdul has finished rebuilding for himself, his mother, and four
siblings and they are among the lucky ones.
An estimated 66,000 families (approximately 400,000 people)
will face the harsh weather and cold temperatures with only
a temporary or semi-permanent shelter over their heads.
They may not be living in tents but their shelters probably
won’t be sufficient to ensure their health and comfort
through the winter.
The International Federation, working with the authorities and
other humanitarian agencies, has been identifying where these
vulnerable populations are. The Red Cross and Red Crescent has
contingency plans to assist 13,500 families across the North
West Frontier Province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
This assistance will include 135,000 CGI sheets, 13,500 shelter
repair kits, 8,300 tents, 70,000 blankets, 40,000 quilts and
27,000 tarpaulins.
This is on top of the 220,000 CGI sheets and 22,000 shelter
repair kits already distributed by the International Federation
and Pakistan Red Crescent across North West Frontier Province
over the past year.
Hanif Furrhman is in a race against time to get his extended
family of 20 out of tents and into his newly rebuilt home in
the village of Batkul, which lies perched on a steep hill high
above the winding Indus River. His house was completely destroyed
by the quake but he now has new stone walls raised and is set
to put on a CGI sheet room.
Hanif has received most of the 175,000 Pakistan rupees promised
by the government to help him rebuild, but it has been a slow,
difficult process to get his new home built.
“First, we had many aftershocks and then the money was
slow in coming,” he says. “This summer, we had monsoon
floods which meant further delays.” He hopes to finish
the job for his family just before the snows come.
Meanwhile, the people of the village of Rashang, near Banna
in the Allai Valley, are expecting heavy snowfalls this year.
Evidence of the quake is still plain to see with the remains
of decimated buildings, poorly patched up dwellings and piles
of rubble scattered around the village.
Pakistan Red Crescent Volunteer, Muhammad Samar, says people
are using CGI sheeting to rebuild, but the process hasn’t
been finished and mass forced migrations down the valley could
occur.
“It will get bitterly cold in winter and while a few people
would leave anyway, if the rebuilding isn’t completed,
fifty percent may be forced to leave temporarily,” he
says.
Several union councils in Banna are being targeted by the International
Federation and Pakistan Red Crescent for shelter assistance
with 3,525 families in the region covered under the contingency
plan.
One year on, there’s much to admire in what has been achieved
since the catastrophic events of 8 October 2005 but there is
no room or reason for complacency when so many thousands of
survivors face an uncertain future and snowfall just weeks away.
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A
year after the devastating earthquake, an estimated 66,000
families face a second winter without completed homes.
(Credit Jakob Dall/Danish Red Cross) (p14750)
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Communities
in villages, such as Rashang, are above the snow line
and have yet to complete the rebuilding process, which
might mean mass forced migration down to the valleys for
the winter. (Credit: John Tulloch/IFRC) (p14748)
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The
International Federation and Pakistan Red Cross have contingency
plans to assist 13,500 families with shelter this winter,
including the distribution of 135,000 sheets of corrugated
galvanized iron. (Credit: John Tulloch/IFRC)
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