October 09, 2006	Monday	Ramazan 15, 1427

AMONG the many challenges faced by the government because of the last year’s earthquake, the big task is the rehabilitation of some 324,000 people who have lost jobs, small businesses, livestock, farmlands and means of incomes due to the natural disaster.

According to the official estimates, more than 70 per cent of shops were fully or partially damaged in Battagram, Muzaffarabad and Bagh districts, whereas, in Balakot city the percentage was well beyond 95.

One year after the calamity, many questions still remain unanswered. How many of those rendered jobless have found their new jobs? How many have become permanently dependent on doles? How many of the victims would be able to get back to work? And, how much foreign-funded schemes would be effective to make affected people to stand on their feet once again?

While a few more questions could be added to the list because of the host of issues involved such as social, political and developmental– answers to them are hard to find. Neither the government nor the international relief agencies have the relevant data.

Jan J Vandemoortele, UN Representative and Humanitarian Coordinator says that his agency will carry out a survey after the upcoming winter to analyze the effectiveness of ‘cash for work’ scheme and certain other programmes UN System carried out in the affected areas.

Facing the uphill task of rehabilitation, the government and aid agencies would also need to bring about change in attitude of the people as quite a large number of jobless have become used to running their kitchen and meeting essential financial obligations without doing anything.

For instance, local government’s rehabilitation efforts in Mansehra – the worst hit of the five districted– have yet to show any positive results. Its district nazim, Sardar Yousuf Zaman says that they have urged philanthropists and charity organizations to buy corrugated iron sheets for erecting temporary houses instead of distributing money among the people.

On its part, the federal government has launched the World Bank funded Rs4.5 billion programme for the most vulnerable segments of the affected areas’. Under the programme, some 250,000 families have been identified to be given Rs3000 per month for a period of six months as financial assistance to meet their basic needs.

While many view the scheme producing dependents on doles, Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA) chairman Altaf Saleem and representatives of international relief and donor agencies believe that based on the experience of similar situations elsewhere in the world, the cash awards would help rehabilitate people.

The scheme covers quite a large number of deserving families. But several other families are reported to be unaware about the scheme. Others may miss the opportunity as many unscrupulous elements have also managed to qualify for the dole.

Microfinance banks also lend small interest-free loans to victims. Small farmers, shopkeepers, owners of small businesses are given soft loans of Rs15,000 to help them kick start their businesses.

Those paying back the first instalment of Rs3000 would get the remaining loan written off as a part of the government’s policy to restore livelihood and reviving economy of the earthquake affected areas.

According to official sources, the government had estimated that needs over Rs10 billion for livelihood support programme. The UN and some other European sponsored programmes of distributing buffalos, cows, sheep and goats in the rural areas however, has not been free of flaws due corrupt practices of some non-governmental organisations.

In most cases, cattle was purchased from Punjab for distribution but the local farmers noticed a sharp decline in the productivity of the cattle, mainly because of the change of climate and fodder.

In some cases, farmers sold out cow and buffalos to butchers and received cash. In some other cases, the cattle was not in fit condition and the farmers had no choice but to dispose them off. On his part, Jan J Vandemoortele, defended the scheme saying that decisions made in haste could have resulted in imperfections but the scheme is needed to rehabilitate livelihood of the affected farmers.

Instead of getting buffalos and sheep from other parts of the country, the people should be given interest-free loans to start fresh business and loans given before the earthquake should be written off as they do not have the capacity to repay their debts, says Sardar Mohammed Yusuf Zaman, nazim, district Manshera.

As stated earlier, the challenge for the government is how to put reluctant locals to work. There is no dearth of work in these areas. Many daily wage earners from the plains have shifted to the earthquake zone because of higher daily wages.

While the government is presently working on mitigating vulnerability through short-term programmes but later it would launch some medium-term strategies. Experts believe that the government would need to put in place long-term plans to restore people’s livelihood.

In this respect, ERRA is busy evolving strategies for different sectors like tourism, agriculture, power, transport, etc. However, the success of these strategies would largely depend on how these would serve the affected people and how they respond.