The most daunting challenge facing the victims of the earthquake is their rehabilitation and the reconstruction of the destroyed towns and villages. This is an uphill task which cannot be achieved without sound planning and practices. Many issues involved need a thorough review while undertaking the rehabilitation on firm footing.
One of the first entities that is in need of rehabilitation is the civilian administration of the affected areas. When the tasks pertinent to rehabilitation are contemplated, the most logical option is to give the local administration the lead role.
For instance, the local government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir is the appropriate tier to be given the lead role in initiating the rehabilitation work in its territory.
Obviously, the concerns of limited capacities and resources will arise. The quake has severely dismembered the institutional framework, physical outreach and human resource of the government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (GoAJK) and the situation is so grave that the Punjab government had to send several officers to shoulder essential duties. All this responsibility and emerging role has to be eventually taken up by AJK.
The rehabilitation is an extremely complex and stretched out assignment. It is composed of several components which must be initiated in an integrated yet sequential manner.
Since the local and provincial administration are the tiers of governance which have to take up the major responsibility, it will be common sense to bolster their capacities to assume the lead role in this process. The federal government may acquire a supporting role and must prepare to withdraw at the right time.
Extended trauma often leads to anarchy and lawlessness. Disasters leave behind many unfortunate individuals and broken families which have experienced sizable loss of life and property.
Under social, psychological and emotional distress, they become desperate for want of various needs. Access to relief goods, modes of immediate survival, possibility or otherwise of relocating along the same property parcels and loss of livelihood factors are all reasons for raising individual (and even) mass anxiety.
Both relief and potential rehabilitation work was affected from recent attacks on relief convoys, stealing of valuables from the debris of houses and utter disregard towards the rescue workers in Muzzaffarabad and near by locations.
These scenarios can be avoided by adopting a sympathetic yet firm attitude to control and manage the tasks. Whether relief supplies or the reconstruction, the orderliness in the context must be maintained.
A crucial factor in reference to the prevailing disaster is to keep the interest and participation of people alive for an extended period. Experiences from the past show that the common people and philanthropists take overwhelming interest during the collection and disbursement of donations, relief goods and related articles. One would find peoples and groups of all ranks and profiles making their presence felt.
However, with the passage of time, the interest of people begin to decline. If proper plans are prepared with well-defined roles of stakeholders, the post-disaster participation can continue. The magnitude of the disaster demands concerted inputs in many vital fields. Rehabilitation of communities, re-development of housing and infrastructure, initiating livelihood options for mass survival, occupancy and ownership conflicts, safety from re-occurrence of the quake are some of the important needs to be accounted for in any long-term strategy for a disaster-struck context.
Apart from common people and philanthropists, it requires the input of highly qualified and experienced professionals and technical experts on a sustainable basis. For example, civil engineers with specialization in earthquake mitigation designs shall be needed in large numbers. Engineering universities may be charged to generate this vital cadre of professionals.
Resource generation, mobilization and distribution is another crucial aspect in this reference. As observed in this case, generous donations have begun pouring in from various local, national and international sources. The support provided in the form of provisions, hardware and supplies is also sizable. Circumstances are such that the aid is to be immediately dispatched to the affected areas without routine stock taking.
As apparent, the flow of aid shall dwindle with the passage of time. An appropriate step shall be to begin estimating the damage; undertake valuation in specific terms; conceptualize the rehabilitation work with cost estimations and priorities. Accumulated funds then need to be correlated with the rehabilitation work and approaches devised for meeting any shortfalls.
An uphill task that shall fall on the way of administration would be to mobilize any remaining amount of funds by keeping the interest of national and international level “stakeholders” alive.
Using present disaster as an eye opener, attempts must be made to develop a disaster management strategy for all districts and locations of the country. However certain steps are vital to be considered on immediate basis.
Review of the situation of this earthquake clearly identified the need of disaster management mechanisms at the local levels; a corps of rescue personnel to combat uneven situations; a disciplined and organized volunteer force and a backup funding arm to support the ongoing works.
Since most disasters require a very elongated follow-up for proper rehabilitation, the proposed components to fight out disaster management shall have a very elaborate institutional agenda. Need of the hour is to begin moving in the rightful direction without delay.