Tearfund Reports on Pakistan Earthquake Six Months On

Following the devastating Pakistan earthquake that shook the entire South Asia region on 8th October 2005, Tearfund and its partners have been continuously providing aid and support to the area. Now six months since the quake hit, Tearfund has reported a clear view of the situation in the areas it is working.

|TOP|Across the affected region the Tearfund relief effort is supporting over 30,000 families - some 180,000 people, providing shelter kits, winterised tents, tools, stoves and cooking utensils, blankets and mattresses as well as warm clothes and medical assistance.

In the North West Frontier of Pakistan, and Indian Administered Kashmir, Tearfund partners were among the relief agencies closest to the earthquake area and they prioritised their staff and operations to help victims.

In the immediate aftermath of the quake it was vividly apparent to all that the earthquake was one that had hit on a massive scale.

Tearfund testify the demanding logistical task that agencies had to deal with to reach communities across vast inaccessible terrain.

A Tearfund disaster management team based in the region responded quickly. They were soon in the earthquake affected area providing relief expertise and co-ordination to get emergency aid programmes up and running. The first phase focussed on materials to enable communities and families to survive the winter.

In the extremely remote Bagh area, the programme has so far provided relief to over 22,000 people, and 4,500 families across six valleys.

Across the area, Tearfund has funded and distributed 6,000 emergency shelter kits - including essential tools and blankets. A public health promotion project is reducing the vulnerability of 6,500 households to disease. Detailed water surveys and repairs to water systems have also been carried out.

|AD|Tearfund explain that over £2 million has been spent so far, with over £1 million implemented for programmes to October 2006.

In addition to the immediate emergency relief, Tearfund has been working closely with local communities, understanding their mid-term and long-term needs.

Tearfund report that it is supporting the education of families and community leaders on how to prepare for disaster. The Christian relief organisation tells for example, “A communication system for alerting villages in deeper valleys or homes higher up a mountainside can provide people with essential early warning skills to limit loss of life in the future.”

Jon Kennedy from Tearfund's Disaster Management Team has recently returned from the region. He explains: “Small yet effective measures that communities can initiate themselves are the essence of disaster preparedness at this level - a UK comparison might be rural communities spreading salt on roads from roadside stores.

“If we can support frontline villages then we can help to ensure that basic life saving measures, actions to reduce vulnerability, become part of community thinking to pass on for future generations. The people I spoke to are very keen to work on this. They tell us what they want to achieve and we work with them, developing their own disaster management plan.”

Tearfund explain that the relief effort was huge involving many relief agencies. Through a Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal the public response to this devastating earthquake was extremely generous - raising over £50 million.

In addition Tearfund supporters raised a further £1.9 million.

Tearfund has also acknowledged the essential support from the Pakistan Government and military logistics that has enabled teams to reach remote areas not accessible by roads destroyed in the earthquake.

Now just over six months on the efforts are continuing to rebuild the villages, Tearfund report, “not just with safer construction materials and repaired water supplies, but with knowledge and vision for the people to secure against future disaster.”