Geneva and Pakistan 31 January – 5 February 2006
My visit to Geneva and Pakistan was in response to a request from the Director of Church World Service, Afghanistan/Pakistan, (CWS A/P) Marvin Perviaz, to attend a meeting of Action for Churches Together (ACT) International supporting agencies evaluating the work following the South Asia Earthquake, (sometimes known as the Kashmir Earthquake) of 8 October 2005. The purpose was to ensure that the churches were represented as considerable support has been received from the Church of Pakistan Mission Partners Forum (CPMPF) I am chair of this Forum with Sandy Sneddon from the Church of Scotland, as Secretary, and together we went to the meeting in Geneva then I went on to Pakistan to represent the church partners.
There were 27 participants meeting in Geneva including four CWS A/P staff. From that group, 11 travelled on to Pakistan with the staff where we were met at Islamabad airport and from there were driven up to Mansehra. CWS was well placed to work with those affected by the earthquake as they had an office in Mansehra out of which, much work in the community was already being done. Immediately following the earthquake, staff from other offices around Pakistan were re-deployed to work in the region.
The meeting in Geneva has been well documented and copies are available from my office if interested. The five days in Pakistan were spent visiting camps and tent villages where CWS has been active in the first phase of recovery with immediate food and shelter kits, tent distribution and support for those in the camps with water and sanitation, health and well being programmes, known as psycho-social care. ACT has made an appeal of $26million for the earthquake and to date $18.6 has been received for Pakistan and India. CWS has received 76% of its appeal target and this has been sufficient for the immediate relief phase.
The earthquake in Pakistan killed more than 80,000 people with a further more than 74,000 seriously injured plus 3.5 million were made homeless. These vast numbers of people have needed immediate and safe places to live in the short term and this has been achieved with the cooperation of NGO’s INGO’s and the Pakistan Army. The army has provided excellent care but they are not so well equipped to work with civilians and therefore tend to control the camps rather than allow community development through empowerment of the new ‘villages’. This can undermine the work of CWS, while tries to get the people to work through issues and make decisions about their future. However there are one or two good examples of cooperation and working together with army personnel and CWS staff for good camp management.
The government intends that all the camps will be disbanded by 31 March 2006 but it is clear that there is likely to be a need for continuing temporary housing for at least 18 months. There is real concern that if there is forced closure of the camps this will only make the situation far worse quite apart from it being a violation of human rights. The recovery phase could take as long as four years with many homes needing to be built. CWS plans to build at least 4000 disaster resistant houses over the next two years. The proposed plan includes latrines with sceptic tanks and will cost approximately £1000. As part of this plan they have opened a Construction Trades training centre where men are being equipped and trained for work and it is expected that they will provide the skills and labour for the construction of the proposed houses. We visited the new centre and met the first group of trainees who are mostly displaced people following the earthquake. The five trades are carpentry, electrical wiring, plumbing, masonry, and welding. These will provide the basic requirements for each house to be built and it is envisaged that groups of trainees drawn from each section will make up construction teams who will build the houses. In each group there are some who are already skilled or semi skilled working alongside the new recruits.
Another factor of the earthquake was the loss of livestock, over 300,000 animals were killed and this is a devastating loss of livelihood for many. An agriculture and livestock programme will be instituted in the spring but will require funding. In one camp a canvas ‘barn’ had been erected for the animals that people had brought with them as they moved down out of the mountains into the valleys seeking shelter.
The group travelled long distances where we could see the devastation of the land that had been made worse by the effects of winter. This included land/mud slides after snowfalls had melted as well as subsequent after-shocks, which number well over 1500 since the big quake. (while we were in Pakistan we experienced a shock, which registered 5 on the Richter scale) The earthquake affected a 28,000km area that ranges from relatively progressive cities through to simple conservative tribal societies. It is shocking to witness flattened buildings, hillsides swept away, broken houses, rubble everywhere and then thousands and thousands of tents in the valleys where people are living close together, side by side. This can add to the trauma for those whose normal situation is living in small settlements on the hillsides.
After visiting Mansehra, Balakot, Maira, the group travelled back to Islamabad for a reception with the Minister of Jammu Kashmir and had a chance to hear some of the work in that region. We also met Bishop Sammy Azariah and he talked of the commitment of the people in his diocese to work in an area for which they had little knowledge or experience. The opportunity for churches to be engaged in this area where they had hitherto been unwelcome was a wonderful gift and an opportunity to express their love and offer practical support. The minister had asked them to help with some of the rebuilding and they are seeking our support in this venture.
The lost of life in Indian Kashmir was much less severe with around 1,000 deaths although 90% of buildings were destroyed or damaged. CASA considers the immediate relief needs have been met. At the end of winter rebuilding will began.
I was extremely pleased to have been able to share in the visit and was deeply impressed with all that I saw being done by CWS and the people they work with, including the Church of Pakistan.
Christine Elliott
February 2006
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