One year after the 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Pakistan, some 60 per cent of the survivors are still displaced, according to a recent survey. Following a commemoration service in Pakistan on Sunday, John Schenk, World Vision International Pakistan communications manager, shared with our Christian Today correspondent the difficulties, accomplishments and lessons learned from working with Pakistan quake survivors.
Could you give a brief bio of your work in Pakistan and in disaster relief? For example, were you there from the start? Were you also helping in Indonesia for the tsunami relief?Schenk: As of Oct. 1, [2006], I have been with World Vision for 20 years. I was a newspaper reporter before that for about 14 years. I was not in the tsunami response but I've been part of relief responses to Ethiopia (1985); Sudan various times from 1989 through 1994; Somalia in 1992; Angola in 1993; Rwanda in 1994; Kosovo from 1998 to 1999; Gujarat, India (quake 2001); Bam, Iran (quake in 2003); and Pakistan in 2005.
How would you compare the Pakistan disaster to other recent natural disasters? What was/is unique about the quake?
Schenk: I don't like to compare natural disasters. Each one is unique but the one thing they all have in common is intense human suffering. People are trying simultaneously to cope with the loss of loved ones, usually the loss of almost everything they own in this world, and the devastation of their communities. Then, they are attempting to regroup under the weight of all to carry on living.
The Pakistan earthquake was unique in that it happened in a remote, often inaccessible area yet still one intensely populated. The billions of dollars in damage to infrastructure are important for the nation and the people serviced by the roads and power but they are secondary in a way. They are eclipsed by the fact so many of these residents of a poor and often ignored region lost all their meagre possessions, everything they own including their homes. 2.5 million people were left homeless.
They lost a terrible number of their children and the hope of any family and community. 73,000 people died - 19,000 of them kids. 19,000 children is more than two thirds of the 26,000 total deaths in the Bam, Iran-quake on the day after Christmas, 2003.
Any major disaster requires years to implement total recovery. It was 9 years after the 1995 quake in Kobe, Japan, before the last person left temporary residence. That disaster claimed 5,500 lives in a highly developed nation with sophisticated earthquake preparedness measure.
Pakistan is underdeveloped. It can't afford quake preparedness programmes.
It will take many more than 9 years to restore this region yet the challenge is also an opportunity. World Vision's relief programmes have transitioned nicely into recovery work and recovery is an ideal foundation for full-on development work. Effective recovery cannot be carried out without engagement with communities and various levels of government. When this is successful, an agency earns a reputation and solid relationships.
