ISLAMABAD, Oct 8: An American expert on disaster management, William S Berger arrived in Islamabad on Friday to help the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) develop its programme to enhance emergency response (PEER).

Talking to newsmen at a local hotel he said: “Erra is in the phase of revising its emergency response plan by moulding it to local needs by revamping the rescue and medical teams for disaster affected areas,” Mr Berger, adviser for the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), told reporters at a local hotel. He was confident that the plan would be ready within next few weeks.

William Berger who serves in Kathmandu (Nepal) was among the first to reach Pakistan within 48 hours of the massive October 8, 2005 earthquake and led USAID’s disaster assistance response team (DART) for the next four months.

Mr Berger also received the Star of Sacrifice (Sitara Isar) award from President Pervez Musharraf on behalf of the DART in recognition of its outstanding contribution to the earthquake relief effort.

Mr Berger has a rich experience of responding to major disasters around the world stretching over 15 years and has actively worked in 25 to 30 disasters.

Though the 2004 Tsunami was the biggest disaster since it affected many countries, the October 8 earthquake in the northern part of Pakistan was also huge since it involved one of the longest relief operations in any natural disaster area.

The Oct 8 disaster was one of the most difficult and challenging not because 73,000 people had died but because it affected a very large area where many communities were living in a very difficult to reach mountainous terrains.

Moreover, the relief workers were also racing against the time to save lives since the environment was very demanding besides the winter was fast approaching then making it difficult to get supplies.

All during his four and half months of stay in the affected region, he said, he never came across any element having extremist or terrorists tendencies contrary to what was projected in the west.

However, he conceded that there was an element of disillusionment and disappointment among the people who wanted to see their demolished houses rebuild as early as possible but said rebuilding process was not an easy job to be completed in a year or two.

“The process is very tedious as such efforts are always long and challenging especially in a region where the window of reconstruction phase is very narrow due to hosts of reasons,” he said.

“I have been to many disasters and know that people’s expectations to have a proper shelter

are always high,” he said adding but the government always wanted to rebuild new cities in a much better way by relocating the older one to avoid tragedies in future.

“It takes a while to develop building code but people’s anxiety to build non-engineered house as early as possible always compound the situation creating difficulties for the government,” he said adding it was always dangerous to build houses by using traditional materials as the next disaster could destroy it again.