In Rubble-Strewn Pakistan, Much Work Awaits Returnees as Spring Approaches

Posted: 31 March 2006

Spring's arrival reveals the scope of the destruction and desperation that still exists in Pakistan, following last fall's massive earthquake. Much has been done, but years of back-breaking work remain.

Here and there amid the rubble, signs of spring have returned to northern Pakistan—patches of soft green tucked behind a row of tents or splashed across a terraced field. At the lower elevations, winter is gone, taking with it the threat of a second wave of deaths among the 2.5 million people left homeless by October’s massive earthquake.

Aid groups worked hard and fast to get emergency supplies to the homeless millions and can take a fair amount of credit for helping them survive the harsh conditions of the past few months, but their job is by no means done.

The earthquake destroyed or severely damaged an estimated 400,000 homes, and though reconstruction was slated to start in mid-March, high hopes for its rapid pace may not be borne out. Many people may still be homeless at this time next year.

“Although the government is estimating that 66 percent of the construction will be completed by the end of 2006, this target is looking increasingly over-optimistic given the scale of destruction,” said Kenny Rae, Oxfam America’s humanitarian response specialist who has just returned from the region. “It’s likely the majority of those affected will go into next winter living in makeshift shelters, and a priority for Oxfam will be to ensure that people do not have to go through a second winter without adequate shelter.”

Metal Sheets Glint in the Sun

More than anything, it was the sweeping destruction—still so evident across the landscape five months after the quake—that stunned Rae as he made his way across the districts of Mansehra, Abbottabad, and Balakot in the North West Frontier Province.

“Here, over hundreds of square miles, nearly every single building was destroyed,” said Rae. “Rebuilding the housing, schools, hospitals, and other structures in the region will take years.”

Where hamlets of small stone houses once stood, piles of rubble dot the hillsides, punctuated by the glitter of sheets of corrugated galvanized iron. Together with other aid agencies, Oxfam has distributed nearly five million of these all-purpose sheets, each about the size of a standard door. People have fashioned them into roofs and walls for their makeshift homes.

“From a hillside, you see the reflection of hundreds of these sheets—like little mirrors—indicating the scale of the damage,” said Rae.

Government Promotes Safer Construction

To guard against such massive destruction in the future, the government of Pakistan is promoting an earthquake-resistant building code. This is the first time it has issued these kinds of guidelines, said Rae.

“It wants to have some control over the quality of the housing that is built,” he said. The earthquake, which measured 7.6 on the Richter scale, left more than 73,000 people dead.

“The government is asking aid groups to sign on as implementing partners to support rebuilding damaged houses in local areas,” said Rae. “The bulk of the rebuilding will be done by owners themselves, with support from skilled laborers and technical assistance provided by the aid groups.”

The World Bank is estimating that to rebuild 400,000 homes will require the effort of 59,000 skilled laborers, and that 80 percent of them will need to be trained first, Rae noted.

Many of the houses that collapsed when the quake hit were built of small stones without any reinforcement. The government is providing plans for new homes of two or three rooms each.

“There are a few recommended designs with technical details that will make them earthquake-resistant, such as using reinforcements to make the walls resistant to collapse,” said Rae. “One method is to use larger stones in the walls to strengthen them.”

The government is also providing people with compensation—up to $3,000—to help them rebuild. For renters, however, government aid will be limited.

“The poorest people in the region rent their homes, which complicates the compensation situation,” Rae said. “They’ll get $400, but the remainder of the compensation will go to the landlords as the houses are rebuilt.”

Seismic Survey

In some areas, it’s possible that homes will not be rebuilt at all. The government is now working on a seismic survey to determine which areas are stable enough to support permanent communities.

“It’s uncertain whether the government will allow permanent housing to be rebuilt in Balakot, given its instability,” said Rae, noting that almost every building there collapsed. “It was a tourist town and people had substantial houses with running water and flushing toilets, and now they’re using simple pit latrines.”

People are anxious to restore the creature comforts they once had, and a regular supply of water is the most basic among them.

“Throughout the region water supplies were disrupted as pipelines broke and many springs stopped flowing working because of fractures in the ground,” he said. “Oxfam is helping communities identify new sources of water and working with them to bring supplies into villages and neighborhoods.”

March 31 Camp Closing Looms

But water is just one of the necessities people will need if they are to return to their communities by March 31. That’s the date the government has announced it plans to close most of the camps for displaced people.

“It wants to encourage people to move back to their villages and establish a degree of normalcy,” said Rae. “This is the planting season. There are thousands of hamlets where people eke out a living from small plots of maize and a handful of cattle. But camp residents are apprehensive about returning, due to uncertainty about the condition of their villages—the lack of housing, the loss of livestock and agricultural land, the dangerous and impassable roads.”

Hundreds of thousands of acres of terraced fields remain buried under huge piles of debris that slid down the hillsides. Returning them to productivity will be a Herculean task, and one with which Oxfam could help.

“Most families have lost substantial parts of their incomes, as men who left their rural communities to find work and send their pay home have returned to their families to help them cope with the disaster,” said Rae. “Oxfam will look for ways to provide them with income through cash-for-work programs that may include clearing the terraced fields.”

The agency is also considering how it can help families recover the animals that are critical for their survival.

“Many animals were killed in the earthquake,” he said. “And others were sold at a low price as families moved to camps with the onset of winter. Animals are important in providing food and income, so Oxfam will look into ways to replace them.”

Oxfam expects to continue its rehabilitation programs in Pakistan for at least three years, Rae said. But for the people of the North West Frontier Province, it will be many years before they regain the lives they once had.

“It will take at least a generation for these communities to recover,” he predicted.