Actionaid's Response
 

Action Aid's ERP field teams have been working to ensure that transitional shelters are constructed and that food and non food items are distributed to the earthquake affected communities in a timely manner. Bagh office has completed 571 shelters and Mansehra has completed 983 shelters. Similarly, Muzzafarabad and Battgram offices have completed 619 and 408 shelters respectively.

Households have been provided latrines, stoves, kitchen sets, quilts and beddings. Distribution includes 1175 latrines, 1979 stoves, 1532 kitchen sets, and 4975 quilts and beddings from ERP Action Aid through all four field offices. In Bagh 500 jackets and 600 shawls were distributed. These were provided by Shapla Neer – a Japanese organization.

Tunnel shaped prefabricated shelter complete with kitchen and latrine was also provided to 133 families. The premise behind this was to ensure that the most destitute and needy are not excluded and received materials that could be easily constructed into a temporary shelter. In Muzzafarabad prefabricated shelter was also provided to 20 schools, which were totally collapsed in the earthquake and where children have no alternate place to study.

Community Centres

Several sites have been identified for establishing community/health centres in the areas where ERP works. The identification process included active involvement of the community particularly women. Prior to this the whole idea was discussed with the community. It would be worthwhile to add that amongst other issues women from the community have, on a number of occasions, highlighted the issues of health and income generating activities. As such this is a felt and genuine need of the community women.

Long term development needs

In most of the field areas, communities and staff are looking beyond the immediate relief phase to more long term development needs of the people of these areas. Livelihoods have become a major issue and in some field areas, options are being explored around enterprise development. Importantly a group of community members were trained as masons by National Rural Support Programme (NRSP). In the coming months as reconstruction becomes a high priority with the government and communities, there will be a vast demand for masons. In Mansehra staff from Actionaid head office in collaboration with ERP staff has undertaken an appraisal exercise of the area to look into long term development needs of the area and developing a programme based on that.

Moving beyond the relief phase reconstructing water mills was identified as an important need in the areas of Shamlai, Battgram. Traditionally communities in this village used water mills to grind maize into flour which is a staple of the people. The water mills were completely destroyed as a result of the earthquake. Subsequently the communities were selling the available maize and other available food items at very low rates as they could neither afford to grind these foods in the nearby town of Battgram nor were they of any other use. In March 2006 ERP staff will therefore support the communities in Shamlai in reconstructing these water mills by providing Corrugated Galvanized Iron (CGI) sheets for the premises that house these mills. All other repair will be done by the local community.

Interaction with government

Staff is looking to work more closely with the local governments and line departments in the earthquake affected areas. In Muzzafarabad linkages were developed in terms of trainings with the Social Welfare Department. In Mansehra staff was part of a moot on district level disaster preparedness.    

Disaster Preparedness Conference

A recent conference on Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation in Developing Countries which was organized by Human Resource Development Network (HRDN) brought in a variety of participants and knowledge from both within and outside the country. Some crucial issues were raised in this conference including the fact that Pakistan was in a seismically active area and could expect earthquakes of a similar or even higher magnitude in the coming months and years. The conference urged the need for a framework for disaster preparedness.

Psycho social care

In terms of psycho social care for communities, a plan is rolling with Rozan, which is a credible national level organization working on mental health in Pakistan. Their services are also being availed by the Danish Red Cross and the Pakistan Red Crescent Society. Accordingly Rozan will build the capacity of key staff around issues of trauma and stress management. More importantly Rozan will train volunteers from the field who will take up psycho social care activities in their respective areas. Rozan, in collaboration with ERP staff will initiate this process after March 18, 2006. In addition to this Rozan will also provide follow up trainings and support to the volunteers and field staff in the next few months.

Emerging Issues

•          The international community with the support of national and international organizations has distributed food and non food items worth millions of rupees in the earthquake affected areas. However the spread and impact of this effort has not been uniform. As a result many communities still protest that their needs were overlooked.
•         Some international organizations are providing inflated remuneration to the local labour in the construction of the temporary shelter which has negatively affected the labour market.
•          The recent security problems due to the publication of offensive cartoons in European newspapers slowed the pace of relief work in the earthquake affected zones.
•          Global warming has affected these beautiful yet dangerous areas. Weather conditions remain erratic - spring brings intermittent rain, hail and snow which hampers work.
•          Even with news of the next tranche of State compensation for the affectees, issues still remain on the table. Both the conditions of possessing a national identity (ID) card and bank account are creating immense problems for the community. They have either lost their ID cards under the rubble and or have to wait for hours to open a bank account in their nearest bank which in most cases is not in their village.
•       As many aid organizations make plans to wrap up their activities within a month or two, the ambiguity of government policies with regards to rehabilitation and reconstruction are evident.
•       Livelihood remains one of the major concerns in these areas. Agriculture activities have suffered, livestock have been killed or maimed and other work too suffered as a result of the earthquake.
•        There are indications from various meetings that the state is gearing to reassert its authority in the affected regions of Pakistan. Organizations have been asked to work closely with the governments and inform them of any activity that they may propose to undertake.