Thousands of the earth quake affected people in the mountainous region have to brave the third chilly winter in temporary shelters. The government has not achieved their claimed targets on ground and the people who are awaiting the third installment of housing compensation are facing severe irregularities in the ERRA's data base. Most of the people are rejected on the basis of No-Record (NR). These people are still living in inadequate shelters which neither protects them from snow nor from winter rain.

To cope with this situation, ActionAid ERP is supporting 170 families in Bagh to improve their shelter in terms of insulating it with Lasani and Plain Galvanized Iron (PGI) sheets and 600 families in construction of latrines. In Muzafarabad the shelter improvement activity is pending due to delay in procurement process. Similarly in Battagram 300 new temporary shelters will be provided to the needy families in the coming month.   

Keeping in view the pressing need for community/health centers, 1 new community centre in Battagram, 2 in Bagh and 1 in Mansehra were completed. Improvement of community centers in Muzafarabad was delayed this month due to an overall screening of vendors, but will be a priority in coming months.

All health centers are functional in all four field areas and provided health care to 8278 patients. The common diseases during this month were typhoid, malaria, gastric/ peptic ulcer, scabies and respiratory track infections. TBA training has also been organized in Mansehra.14 women participated in this training. In Muzafarabad a health and hygiene campaign has been organized which was attended by 405 school children. Similarly a first aid and psychosocial training was also conducted.

Restoration of water supply schemes is a high priority in all field areas. Work is under progress on 5 water supply schemes in Battagram, 1 in Mansehra and 1 in Muzafarabad. In addition to this, 22 hand pumps have been installed in Battagram, and 5 hand pumps have been repaired in Mansehra.

As part of livelihood activities, the flour machine in the village of Khabal, Mansehra is finally functional. The team has identified 26 women for grocery shops and distributed seeds to 100 families for kitchen gardening. Similarly 20 families have been identified for grocery shops in Battagram and construction of 2 vocational centers is in process. 141 families have received cash grants. In Muzafarabad the community has established a vocational centre on self help basis and the already trained community women will operate it. 51 women participated in trainings on organic farming and medicinal plants and preservation of fruits and vegetables. An exhibition was also organized in which the local handicrafts made by the community was displayed.  

As part of policy work, a round table discussion was organized in which all stakeholders participated to review the Master Plan for reconstruction of Bagh city. It was revealed that NESPAK is designing the plan and is still in its initial stages of planning. The participants criticized the authorities for delaying tactics and poor planning. The Minister of Works & Reconstruction AJK admitted their failure and identified focal persons for different tasks to expedite the progress. A deadline of one month was also given to the consultants to complete the planning phase. Most importantly the Deputy Commissioner was asked to report on the status of the landless people in Bagh in one months time. This event was covered in all major newspapers in AJK and broadcasted on Voice of Kashmir, a local radio channel in AJK.

Emerging Issues:

• Two years after the earthquake people are still living in inadequate shelters as many didn receive compensation to rebuild their homes.
• The landless and tenants face immense problems regarding the reconstruction of their houses and they are the most neglected. Due to harsh winter season and a lack of basic amenities, the situation could become very hazardous for them.
• Costs of transporting material to high altitude areas are very high. As such the communities are generally unable to reconstruct their homes leading to desperation and bitterness in the communities.
• Even after two years, limited availability 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.
• Most of the schools are still operating in tents and only 21 out of 7000 are reconstructed so far.