Sweepers and Trucks Keep a Makeshift Camp Clean

Posted: 8 November 2005

In camps crowded with thousands of people who lost their homes in the South Asian earthquake, proper health practices and hygiene facilities are critical in preventing the outbreak of disease. In addition to digging latrines, providing clean water, and distributing hygiene kits, Oxfam has launched trash pickup programs in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

Not far from the old fort in Muzaffarabad is a public park. People used to go there to walk and let their children play. Now that park has become a small tent city for more than 3,000 people left homeless by the October earthquake. Known as Jalalabad Camp, it houses about 350 tents where beds of flowers once bloomed.

Oxfam has installed water and sanitation facilities in the camp, substantially improving living conditions for the people forced to make temporary homes there. But with so many people crowded into one place, their garbage began to pile up—until Oxfam joined forces with Muzaffarabad to launch a town cleanup program. The agency provided the municipality with new brooms, wheelbarrows, and trucks, and then hired Muzaffarabad’s sweepers to tackle the piles. Oxfam’s goal in the first two weeks was to clear away all the accumulated garbage. After that, the municipality planned to take over the program and maintain clean and healthy living conditions.

Ten days after the cleanup started, the paths in Jalalabad Camp are free of trash. Six sweepers working eight-hour days collect the garbage, sweep the alleys, and make sure there is no trash in the playground, which now serves as a school. Several times a week, a big truck comes to collect the accumulated waste.

Improving Local Hygiene

People in Jalalabad Camp themselves are also doing their best to improve the hygiene situation. The women are particularly happy with the latrines and bathing cubicles that Oxfam has helped to build. And public health promoters have been offering residents advice on how to keep rats and other unwelcome animals out of their tents and living areas.

But some of the programs have stumped the residents. People from the Neelum and Jhelum valleys often did their washing and bathing in the river. They are not accustomed to using the items in the hygiene kits Oxfam has distributed.

They also wondered about the purified water Oxfam provided. At first, people refused to drink it because they didn’t like its taste. But after female volunteers carefully explained that the taste was an indication that the water was safe to drink and would prevent people from getting sick, the women started using the water for cooking and bathing.

Little by little, Jalalabad Camp is becoming a cleaner and healthier place. Such success after 10 days of work has inspired Oxfam to launch similar cleanup programs in other parts of Muzaffarabad.