Donate to this appeal » A trainee at the CWS-supported Bissian Construction Trade Training Center, Pakistan. Photo: Chris Herlinger/CWS

CWS Appeal: Southern Asia Earthquake (Rehabilitation)

September 12, 2006

It has been nearly a year since the devastating Oct. 8, 2005, earthquake affecting Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, the Pakistani-controlled Azad Kashmir region and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, killed at least 73,000 (with some estimates saying as many as 86,000 were killed) and injured, according to latest estimates, some 200,000.

As noted in a May 3 CWS appeal update, challenges have marked the response to this disaster, chief among them earthquake-affected communities were already enduring extreme difficulties: nearly all of those affected by the disaster lived in disaster-prone mountainous rural settlements with fragile economies. They lived without such basic services and facilities such as clean drinking water and safe waste disposal systems. The disaster increased the vulnerability of these communities.

Such vulnerabilities have continued. As CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan noted in a recent report: “Heavy rains, landslides and flash floods continue to hamper recovery efforts in the earthquake-affected areas. Road closures, due to landslides and flash floods are delaying the recovery process. More landslides are expected during the current monsoon season. It could take several months to repair and open primary and secondary roads. After this monsoon period, the coming winter will also pose great challenges.”

Summary of Emergency Phase

Church World Service was one of the first organizations in Pakistan to provide disaster relief support to many affected areas. The fact that CWS had maintained an office in the city of Mansehra for more than 25 years created a foundation from which to launch shelter, food and non-food item distribution efforts.

CWS, in partnership with others from the Action by Churches Together (ACT) network, including Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) and local partners, such as DOSTI, contributed a range of human resources and distributed material resources, including over 25,000 tents, to the relief effort in four Tehsils of Mansehra District, in Battagram, in Kohistan and in the Shangla Districts. More than 30,000 families were supported through the CWS efforts.

Response

CWS continues its work in the so-called recovery phase of this disaster. In this updated appeal, Church World Service is requesting support to continue developing basic rehabilitation activities needed for the resettlement of the population affected by the earthquake.

More specific beneficiary information is being updated here, though it must be emphasized that while the number of direct beneficiaries of the recovery program can be estimated with some degree of accuracy, the number of indirect beneficiaries is more difficult to estimate with precision.

The direct beneficiaries CWS is currently assisting include:

• 4,000 families are benefiting from the construction of toilets, septic tank facilities and the planting of fruit trees. Inhabitants of 26 selected villages are enhancing their knowledge on environmental awareness by different methods including workshops/trainings, development and dissemination of informative material on environmental awareness.

• 1,785 men are undertaking courses at construction trades training centers (CTTCs), which are providing skill training in five trades -- including masonry, carpentry, electricity, welding and plumbing.

• 1,000 widows are receiving livelihoods support through a livestock development project.

• More than 1,000 individuals and their families are receiving psychosocial support services and a further 16,000 people are benefiting from the community intervention component of psychosocial support. About 40 people will increase their knowledge and skills through training in psychosocial care. People of six selected union councils will be provided with community support centers, which they can utilize for various community activities.

• Twenty-six villages are benefiting from renovated or repaired water systems, covering an anticipated 8,571 households with approximately 60,000 people.

• The total number of families who will directly benefit from the implementation of health and hygiene program is more than 10,000. Given that the average family in the area comprises seven persons, the approximate number of beneficiaries is more than 70,000. In addition, approximately 4,800 students from 26 village schools will improve their health and health and hygiene practices. This brings the total to 75,000.

• 1,500 community people will be trained through 60 trainings in disaster management and recovery planning. 144 union leaders will be trained in 12 trainings in disaster management, governance and recovery planning. 720 people from EFO staff and CWS/NCA partner organizations will be trained in 26 trainings in various areas from organizational skills to disaster management and recovery planning. In total, through capacity building program 2,364 people will be trained.

• Community primary and secondary health services are being provided to approximately 100,000 people in both NWFP and the Azad Kashmir region.

• 5,000 families will benefit from a winter emergency assistance program including shelter kits and food packages.

There are three notable changes since the issue of the May appeal update.

1. One is additional information about a sustainable livelihood program for widows.
   
   As part of its assessment work, CWS has identified a key vulnerable group-- households headed by widows. A new livelihoods program is supporting the raising of livestock in the Mansehra and Battagram districts for such households.
   
   This livelihoods program is creating a kind of domestic animal resource pool. In the first year, three female sheep will be provided to each 1,000 selected female-headed households. 100 rams will also be distributed for breeding purposes. For the circulation of 100 rams for breeding purpose, 1,000 women will be divided into 100 groups. Each group will consist of 10 women each having three female sheep (eves). In total 3,100 sheep will be distributed. A buffer of 5 percent was maintained by purchasing extra sheep. That means approximately 155 additional sheep will be purchased to cover the loss during transportation and handed over to beneficiaries.
   
   Basic animal health services will be provided to assure animals are healthy. Families will receive basic training in animal husbandry practices. Each year for two years, each family will turn over two young animals to the animal bank. These will be distributed to an additional 500 target families each year. The milk products - milk, cheese and yogurt - can be sold or utilized in the immediate vicinity of the family’s home and will provide a small but reliable source of income. Monitoring efforts will help determine if the program should be extended into other areas and for a longer time. Efforts will be done to link beneficiaries to market so they can sell the by products from livestock.
   
   Under a new environmental protection component, beneficiaries will also be given awareness on different environmental prevention and protection components including waste management, using sanitation facilities, etc.
   
   
2. Another change is the decision to provide emergency assistance to 5,000 earthquake-affected families in NWFP during the 2006-2007 winter season which will include providing them shelter and food items.
   
   According to government authorities, an estimated 20,000 families in urban areas of will not have permanent houses constructed in 2006, and their tents are unlikely to be adequate to live in for another year. Makeshift temporary shelters may not be available to some families.
   
   There is a growing recognition that another relief phase will be started with coming winter and shelter and food would be the major requirement. Following groups have been identified, which may require transitional shelter:
   
   • The urban displaced whose land has been identified as uninhabitable.
   • Urban dwellers whose houses were destroyed.
   • Residual caseloads within camps.
   
   Until now 10,000 prefabricated shelters have been secured by the government’s Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA), but there is no specific identified time-line as to when they will be provided to beneficiaries. It is anticipated that the shelters will be used for urban displaced persons. It has been announced by ERRA and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) that there will be need for additional 10,000 shelters required for the urban displaced.
   
   So far there is no focus yet on the rural-affected population which makes up 90 percent of the total affected by earthquake. A consensus emerged among aid agencies that there is an urgent need to address the issue of upcoming winter challenges since there has been less work on the ground for shelter and accommodation. There is an urgent need of any kind of shelter whether it is semi-permanent or permanent as the monsoon has already started and winter is only months away. The size of the shelters should be flexible keeping in mind the size of the family members.
   
   In light of this, CWS and its partner Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) have decided to launch the winter emergency response program in coming winters to cater to the immense need of the most vulnerable (likely to be single headed households, families with disabled, infirm or elderly members) families, who will not be provided with any kind of transitional shelters. The winterization program will consist of the following:
   
   1. Shelter Kits
      5,000 shelter kits will be provided to most needy. Each shelter kit will include the following items:
      • Family-size Tent -1
      • Ground Sheet - 1
      • Plastic Sheet - 1
      • Iron Poles - 2 (with hammer)
      • Blankets - 4
        
   2. Food Packages
      5,000 food packages will be given to the most needy. Each food package will comprise of:
      • Wheat flour - 80 kg
      • Rice - 40 kg
      • Pulses - 7 kg
      • Cooking oil - 10 liters
      • Sugar - 7 kg
      • Tea leaves - 1 kg
      • Salt (Iodised) - 1 packet
      • Match Box - 1 packet
      • Soap - 4
3. A third change: ERRA, as the government body coordinating rehabilitation, has specified that non-government organizations such as CWS are not to be involved in shelter reconstruction as there is a government strategy for accomplishing this. As a result, the original CWS housing construction component is no longer part of this updated appeal. However, CWS has chosen to expand training of community members in the construction trades training centers (CTTCs) to better enable them to help in the reconstruction of homes in their communities.

Other major components of this appeal - psychosocial care and protection; capacity building; sustainable livelihoods; and water and sanitation - remain integral parts of the CWS response and have not changed since the issue of the original appeal.

Contributions to support these efforts may be sent to your denomination or directly to:

Church World Service
Southern Asia Earthquake -- #6979
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515

Contributions may also be made by credit card online, or by calling: (800) 297-1516, ext. 222.

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