On the morning of October 8, 2005, children had arrived at school and people were settling in to begin their workday. At 8:50, a magnitude 7.6 centered in Pakistan-administered Kashmir struck, changing the lives of millions. When the shaking stopped, anywhere from 70,000 to 100,000 people were killed, over 100,000 were injured and over 4 million people were left homeless. The vast majority of the fatalities and the damage took place in Pakistan and Pakistani-administered territory, presenting a huge problem for an administration already facing many challenges. The quake lasted only a minute, but the destruction it left will shape this region for years to come. While there are many hard times ahead, signs of hope are emerging if Pakistan, India and the world community commit to reconstruction.
India/Pakistan/Kashmir: Turbulent Region
For those who aren’t familiar with this region of the world, Kashmir is a region which both India and Pakistan claim as their own in a dispute dating back to India and Pakistan’s independence in 1947. It is a very mountainous region and has been in the midst of an insurgency since 1989. Many of the people in Indian-controlled Kashmir want to join Pakistan and Pakistan is suspected of helping fund and supply the insurgents, leading to a rise in tensions between India and Pakistan. As a result of this conflict, Kashmir’s economy has suffered and the area’s infrastructure was already poor before this catastrophe struck. This short blurb doesn’t even begin to address the complexities of the situation, but is meant as a brief overview. I have added some links at the end of the article for those interested in more of the history of this region.
The Immediate Response:
Immediately following the quake, Pakistan, India, and relief agencies from around the world worked quickly to bring supplies to people to prevent a second major humanitarian crisis from occurring. The quake struck just before the start of winter and the early fears were that thousands of homeless people could freeze or starve. Many of the mountain villages in the region were completely devastated and the residents were forced into emergency shelters where many still remain.
The UN did an excellent job providing the necessary supplies and the Pakistani army in particular did excellent work on the ground getting the supplies to the people who needed them. The usual NGOs like Doctors without Borders and UN agencies like UNICEF were instrumental in providing much-needed disaster relief. Following the previous year’s Asian tsunami, the region’s aid agencies were experienced and well prepared to help with another incident. The great work that these agencies did likely prevented a major humanitarian disaster in the relief camps and they ensured that there were no outbreaks of disease and no famine during the winter.
The Aftermath
While half of those initially left homeless have now found a place to live, that still leaves up to 2 million people still living in makeshift shelters, tents or in the rubble of their former home with no coordinated plan for finding these people a long-term solution. Recent reports show that homelessness is still the number one problem in the quake region. Large number of people living in poor conditions with inadequate sanitation facilities is a potential public health nightmare and will also breed resentment and anger at their government.
Over nine months after the disaster, many children are still without any sort of proper schooling. This region already had issues with access to education and the damage caused by the earthquake has exacerbated the problem. 10,000 schools were reported damaged or destroyed and attendance has dropped from pre-quake levels. For obvious reasons, it is important to make sure that the children are able to get an education. UNICEF has announced plans to build 500 new schools in the region and train 20,000 new teachers, but they have also announced that they have only half the funds they need to do the job properly so time will tell if they are able to make any headway with these efforts.
More problems have come recently during monsoon season, as hundreds have died in mudslides caused by the collapse of earthquake-weakened hillsides. Wood remains the primary source of fuel for people living in remote villages. Many trees had also been cut for building materials and other uses, leaving the region with a deforestation crisis. When the earthquake hit, the trees were not there to help hold together the hillsides and the landslides have been particularly devastating this season. This problem is a long-term one and the local authorities must take steps to combat this or they will face the same problems year after year.
Another major problem in the region is the horrible infrastructure in many of these areas. I want to quote from one news article about the dangers facing aid workers trying to deliver supplies to a remote village
We began to ascend a series of hair-pin bends so sharp that the driver had to drive into the bank at each turn then reverse to within centimetres of a sheer drop to get round them. At one point we had only three wheels in contact with the track, the other was hanging over the precipice.
“When people say `why is there not more help reaching these villages faster, I wish I could show them these roads’,” Mubashir said. We heard later that somewhere in the region that same day three aid workers had been killed in a road accident.
Given these problems, it is no wonder than the rate of recovery has been slow. Much of this region is desperately poor and did not have a strong infrastructure to begin with. One of the most important tools in delivering aid is helicopters and the Pakistani army does not have enough. The US military in Afghanistan provided a great deal of helicopter support in the immediate aftermath of the quake but have since withdrawn much of that support to focus on their primary mission in Afghanistan.
The last problem I want to mention is of a religious and political nature. This region has been the source of sectarian conflict. In some of the most conservative areas, such as Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province which borders Afghanistan, religious leaders have concerned themselves with details like the clothing of female aid workers, consumption of alcohol and whether or not emergency hospitals had separate entrances for women. These fundamentalist leaders often make things difficult for the UN and the NGOs operating in the area and people will choose to operate in places which are not as fundamentalist.
Furthermore, in the Pakistani quake-hit region, many of the most active aid groups have been Muslim groups linked to Islamist political parties. While Kashmir has typically not been a fundamentalist region, there are worries that these Islamist parties will attempt to fill any power vacuum and make the region even more volatile. Recent Kashmir elections saw Kashmiri voters reject the Islamist parties but as reconstruction drags on, fears will grow of a backlash.
Balakot: One case study
Balakot was one of the Pakistani cities hardest-hit by the quake. It was a city of more than 30,000 before the quake and 2,500 people were estimated to have died in collapsed buildings. The city was devastated by the quake and much of it lies in ruins. Reports indicate that very little has happened since the earthquake to rebuild and help people get back on their feet. People are still living in tents and in the rubble of collapsed buildings. Schools are run out of tents and only hospitals are makeshift ones run by religious groups. There seems to be no official government presence and both the Pakistani army and NGOs seem to have left. Local residents have complained that reconstruction work has stopped and everyone is in limbo.
The government of Pakistan does not intend to rebuild Balakot as it was. Instead, plans have been drawn up to rebuild the city 20 kilometers (12 miles) away from the original site of the town because the original site was deemed to lie too close to a fault line and it was too dangerous to rebuild there. While this is a monumental challenge, it is also an opportunity. The government has pledged to rebuild Balakot and other cities so they have adequate sewers and drinking water and are constructed to be more quake-resistant. While these plans are potentially good news for the people of Balakot and other cities, they do very little to change the day to day problems faced by people in the quake zone. The question will be if the Pakistan government is willing to make reconstruction work the national priority that it needs to be.
Balakot is a typical example of the hardest-hit areas. While some work has been done, there are still ruins everywhere. Part of the problem might be one of expectations, as everyone wants to have their town fixed, but resources are limited and people are doing the best they can. As we have seen in New Orleans, if the richest nation in the world is facing difficulties rebuilding an area hit by a natural disaster, we should not be surprised that Pakistan would be having trouble too. That being said, the longer reconstruction drags on, it becomes more and more likely that people will become forgotten.
Signs of hope?
While the situation is grim in the region, I believe there are signs of that the region has the potential to emerge stronger than before. The first positive sign is that aid agencies and local governments have been working on skills development with people in the region hoping to provide people with jobs and let them participate in the reconstruction of their towns. The hope is that these new skilled workers will help rebuild their region faster than could have been otherwise possible. Many of these new workers will learn a trade and will hopefully be employed in their new jobs for the rest of their lives. Some people have gone from being substance farmers to working in administrative positions with relief organizations and have become successful and influential in the process. For many of these workers, this opportunity would have otherwise never arisen and it is hoped that they can help reduce the skills shortage that existed, especially in more remote areas.
Something subtle yet still profound is the effect that NGOs have had on the women of the region. One of the more touching stories I read had told the story of a old woman who had walked 3 hours to a field hospital set up by an aid organization. The woman insisted on seeing a female doctor. When asked what her heath problem was, she replied
“There is nothing wrong with me but I have never seen a lady doctor before and I am very old and I want to see one before I die.”
Female aid workers have provided a positive example for women of the region and many women from the region have already begun to work for NGOs in fields that would have never been open to them before.
How to help:
The best way to help is to donate to one of the many charities active in the region. Relief organizations are tight on funds, so every dollar counts. Reconstruction is a long-term project and these charities will need financial support for years to come. If you plan on making some charitable donations this year, I encourage you to make a donation to these or any of the other great organizations doing so much valuable work in the region. In addition, you could contact your political representatives and ask them to support any foreign aid to this region.
A 5 billion dollar arms deal was recently approved by the US Congress which will see Pakistan buy up to 36 F-16 fighter jets. While the US continues to send military aid to its ally in the war on terror, let’s make sure that the people affected by the earthquake get the help they need. In a famous poll taken after 9/11, 83% of Pakistanis said they favored the Taliban over the United States and this would be one way to help improve America’s very poor reputation in that part of the world.
Conclusion
Like most disasters that aren’t politically useful, last year’s South Asian earthquake quickly left the media spotlight and faded in most people’s memories. However, this disaster has affected millions and they continue to live with the effects of this disaster every day. The challenges facing these people are immense and they continue to endure great hardships. However, this is a region used to hardships and these people are tough. Let’s all make sure they get the help they need in order to create a better life for themselves and their children. This is an opportunity to create a positive image for the West in a large Muslim nation and help ease tensions in a region which has seen nothing but conflict for many years.
Links:
Charities:
http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/international/earthquake/southasia100805.aspx
http://www.unicef.org/index.php
http://www.savethechildren.org/
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatwedo/emergencies/earthquake_southasia
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/home.cfm
http://www.redcross.org/
Pakistan-India conflict:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir_Conflict
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1762146.stm
General Resources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/south_asia/2005/south_asia_quake/default.stm
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/asia.quake/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir_earthquake
http://news.yahoo.com/fc/World/South_Asia_Earthquake/
