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| October 05, 2006 | Thursday | Ramazan 11, 1427 |
Rs30bn paid to quake survivors
PESHAWAR, Oct 4: Although almost a year has passed since a devastating earthquake struck northern parts of the country and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the nation is still trying hard to heal the scars left by the calamity.
At 8:55am on the day, the earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter Scale wiped out a number of villages and towns.
According to official figures, 74,000 people were killed, 100,000 injured and more than three million were made homeless.
In the NWFP and AJK, 9,000 educational institutions were destroyed and 16,000 damaged.
Reconstruction of the institutions will cost Rs500 million.
The Muzaffarabad, Bagh and Rawlakot districts in AJK and Abbottabad, Mansehra, Shangla, Battagram and Kohistan in the NWFP were badly affected.
The loss estimated by the government stands at five to six billion dollars, while it will take five years to accomplish the target.
The earthquake affected 3.7 million people in 186 union councils in the NWFP, 22,708 people died, 40,573 received injuries and one million were left homeless.
Balakot tehsil literally turned into a graveyard and 14,000 people died.
The meteorological department has recorded over 2,000 aftershocks and tremors continue to be felt in the affected areas.
The continuously trembling earth, harsh weather in the hilly areas and difficult road and communications access are some of the factors hindering the reconstruction work.
Although at a slow pace, life is returning to normal in the affected areas and a ray of hope can be seen in the eyes of the survivors.
The government, despite meagre resources and the large scale of the calamity, tried its best to save the survivors and established the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority on Oct 24, 2005, to plan, coordinate, monitor and regulate reconstruction and rehabilitation in the affected areas.
The major objective of the authority is to encourage self-reliance via private-public partnership and community participation in the process of rehabilitation and reconstruction besides ensuring financial transparency.
The government held a ‘donors conference’ on Nov 19, 2005, where 80 countries and international donor agencies participated. The purpose of the conference was to seek international financial, technical and in-kind support for meeting the cost of rehabilitation and reconstruction.
The President’s Relief Fund for Earthquake Victims 2005 was also immediately set up.
A total of $6.522 billion were pledged during the conference. The World Bank pledged $1.07 billion, Saudi Arabia promised $573 million, the US $510 million and the UAE $200 million.
Initially, the government established tent villages in a bid to provide temporary shelter to the survivors and set up mobile field hospitals in these affected areas to cater to the needs of the injured people.
A large number of local and international NGOs, donors and relief organisations also came for the rescue of the survivors.
The countries and organisations which worked alongside the government in health, education and social sectors for construction of mosques, water supply schemes and livelihood programmes include Nato, China, the Aga Khan Foundation, Mercy Corp, the US, USAID, the Pakistan Red Crescent, Unicef, the WHO, Jica, the ICRC, the DFID and the GTZ.
Talking to APP, Erra Housing Deputy Director Waqas Hanif Khan said Rs30 billion had been distributed among 430,000 affected people for the reconstruction of their homes. He said 27 per cent of the affected people had started construction of their homes, of which 5,000 were near completion. He said the second instalment of Rs75,000 had been released to the affected people.
He said Balakot city would be relocated to Bakriyal at a cost of $130 million and the project would be completed in three years. —APP
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