Interview: World Vision on Pakistan Quake One Year Later

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.

|PIC1|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.

These are essentials for good development work. This is where World Vision finds itself one year after the quake.

|PIC2|In one year, what has been accomplished overall from an NGO's perspective? What kinds of programmes and reconstruction have WVi implemented in Pakistan?

Schenk: World Vision assisted 45,000 houses or about 284,000 people with tents, blankets, mattresses, etc. through the winter that came quickly on the heels of the disaster. We delivered 3.7 metric tons of food that helped keep 95,000 people alive.

And - true to our child focus - we helped an average of 4,700 children a week in our Child Friendly Spaces and other child protection programmes through March. Then, at the request of parents, 17 spaces were relocated when camps closed and they now help on average 2,700 children weekly in 17 villages.

Additional child protection work includes paying for vocational training for 40 school drop-outs (boys) and classes soon for 480 girls in tailoring, weaving, etc. There were 140 teens (60 girls and 80 boys) saved from expulsion by World Vision catch up classes this summer. Staff attribute their acting up and poor performances to the disturbing things they experienced and witnessed in the earthquake.

|PIC3|How has WVi helped the survivors return to normal life?

Schenk: Food and shelter items, livestock, building materials and especially Child Friendly Spaces. The spaces helped children bury their disturbing pasts, rebuild confidence and return to their educations.

What are the current needs in the affected Pakistan regions?

Schenk: Maybe 500,000 of the 2.5 million people left homeless by the quake have returned to proper homes. Still, both the returnees and those waiting their turn need help. Everyone, especially returnees, needs livestock, roads and livelihoods. Why livelihoods? Aren't these people farmers? Yes, but their lands are small and they must work as much as half the year in big cities as casual labourers to feed their families. This point was amplified by the fact so many heads of households were absent and had to rush back from the cities after the quake. They had been away earning extra money. Those still in the camps need to get into proper homes as soon as possible; then they will need the same as returnees. Because most people - while they had little - lost all of it.

What did you/NGO workers learn through the effort in Pakistan?

Schenk: You always learn grace under pressure. You are racing to do as much as possible with never enough to serve all the needs. You are impatient and often rough with people yet those you help almost invariably evidence astounding graciousness and hospitality.

Pakistan gave many of us in those first weeks a unique experience, that of working with the army. The humanitarian community from aid agencies to the United Nations has strict policies on working with the military. We are hesitant and cautious to a fault. I've worked in too many countries where association with the military would inspire nothing but fear in those we sought to help. The Pakistan army taught us lessons in servant hood, ingenuity and stamina in meeting the challenges of delivering aid to people who live on 60-degree mountain slopes.