The government failed to protect victims of cruel October 8 earth quake from harsh winter. Many deaths and increase in patients were reported and published in media. The suffering of quake victims could be lessened by giving compensation amount in time that they would construct their destroyed houses. Thousands of quake ravaged people are still living in tents and transitional shelters on both mountains and plains in NWFP and AJK quake hit regions.

Conversion of prefabricated shelters into permanent shelters is an immediate need of the communities living in high altitude areas of Bagh, Battgram, Muzaffarabad and Mansehra. To address this issue all four field offices provided materials to the vulnerable families. 260 families have converted their shelters so far in afore mentioned areas and now, they are living in these improved shelters. Further more, in Battgram, over hundred more families were provided materials for the improvement of shelters.

The community centers were constructed as hubs and training centers for women. In this connection, kitchen gardening and vocational trainings were carried out in Mansehra and Muzaffarabad.

Moreover, all health centers are functional in all four field areas. Besides the routine activities in health centers in Muzaffarabad, UNFPA Mobile Service Unit was arranged for the villages where there is no gynecologist. Women of these areas use to come down to city for gynecologist. 304 women were accessed through Mobile Service Units by UNFPA gynecologist. During the reporting month, over 10000 patients were treated in all health centers in all four field areas. The percentage of children was 40%, men 20% and women over 45%.

The 2005 earth quake destroyed or diverted water supply. In this regard, the work is under process in 6 water supply schemes in Muzaffarabad, Mansehra and Battgram. In addition to this, in Mansehra and Battgram, 12 hand pumps were completed where as in Battgram, Aman Abad water supply scheme was completed during the reporting month.

The destruction of schools was perhaps the greatest loss of the earthquake. Eighteen thousand pupils were killed in a matter of minutes in schools only as more than 6,000 buildings collapsed on top of them. Over a year on, few have been rebuilt. In this regard, ERP started rebuilding Khabal community school in Mansehra. To add with, in Battgram, proposals for the construction of Shamlie and Battamori schools were submitted to ERP office.

To enhance the capacity of staff and local communities in the earth quake affected areas, the field teams arranged TBAs and first aid trainings in Mansehra, Muzaffarabad and Bagh. The train TBAs and LHVs will positively affect the human resource development aspect in the areas. Besides the trainings, the health and hygiene and Aids awareness campaign were conducted at household and school levels in Muzaffarabad.

The staff is regularly interacting with the communities in order to strengthen the community organizations.  In this connection, restructuring of community organizations are in process in Muzaffarabad, Bagh and Battgram, according to the criteria discussed in the last coordination meeting.

As part of policy work, the field teams regularly attend meetings with communities to know their problems and share their ideas with each other. In Bagh and Muzaffarabad, a meeting with community members was held where EVRM units were formed after these meetings. Further more, different CBOs were approached to work closely with EVRM on policy issues jointly. The assessment of the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) was completed during the reporting month. ActionAid ERP will provide them shelters where as EVRM will mainly focus on land and compensation issues.

Emerging Issues

• One year after the earthquake people are still living in tents as many didn’t get compensation to rebuild their homes.
• The landless and tenants face immense problems regarding the reconstruction of their houses and they are the most ignored ones. Harsh winter season on the one hand and a lack of basic amenities on the other. The situation would become very hazardous for them.
• Costs of transporting material to high altitude areas are very high. As such the communities are unable to reconstruct their homes which are leading to desperation and bitterness in the communities.
• Even after one year of the earthquake unavailability of both skilled and unskilled labor causes delay in the reconstruction process. The rise in the rates of skilled and unskilled labor has also aggravated the situation of the poor communities.
• The unavailability of medical staff created problems in remote and far flung areas especially in winter and there was upsurge in diseases too.
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