Report from Jatin Desai, AID Saathi

Appeal for Solidarity & Support for Kashmir Earthquake Relief, Rehabilitation & Reconstruction

Situational Report

The earthquake that hit the region of Jammu & Kashmir on October 8, 2005 left about 79,000 persons dead in Pakistan administered Azaad Kashmir and some 3000 on the Indian side of the Line of Control of this divided territory, according to reliable reports. Thousands more are at risk from the oncoming bitter Himalayan winter as they desperately wait for relief, some in tents but many others out in the open. While the epicentre was near Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan administered Azaad Kashmir, the devastation spread to Islamabad and parts of NWFP in Pakistan and to the districts of Baramula and Kupwara in Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir.

The devastation in Mazaffarabad, Rawlakot, Neelam valley and some other adjacent areas is so extensive that even after four weeks the relief teams have not been able to reach some of the areas. The extensive damage to the roads and continuing landslides have made relief work extremely difficult. Reaching much required relief materials and particularly warm clothing, shelter materials and medicines to the people trapped in the villages in the higher areas is increasingly becoming a futile race against the oncoming bitter Himalayan winter.

Rescue and Relief operations: Responses of governments and civil society:

In the four weeks since October 8, the area around the epicentre has experienced about 1190 aftershocks. Dr. Parvez Hoodbhoy of Ouaid-E-Azam University, Islamabad who visited some of the earthquake affected areas in Pakistan administered Kashmir, described the situation in the villages near Batgram, “I saw that everyone is sleeping outside. Some have tents, others just the sky above them. People are too scared to return indoors even where the structures are still standing. Some who had repaired their houses saw them collapse again after a small quake.” Dr Hoodbhoy noted, “Some peaks are already covered with snow and winter is just weeks away. So even if there were no aftershocks, rebuilding would be hard in such weather. The tent towns now seen everywhere will probably disappear once it gets colder. Even now there is large scale migration into the cities like Mansehra, Abbottabad, Mirpur, Rawalpindi, Islamabad,...”.

There is reason to fear that many who survived the ravages of the earthquake might perish in the bitter cold in the coming weeks. President of Pakistan in a recent interview to the media has said that he is disappointed by the poor response of the international community to this enormous tragedy.

On the Indian side, the relief work also has been rather slow. The Prime Minister of India immediately announced a grant of about five billion Indian Rupees for relief and rehabilitation. However, according to media reports from quake affected Uri and Karnah tehsil, the government of the Indian administered state of Jammu and Kashmir has yet to gear up its relief and rehabilitation machinery. Two days after the quake, the mountains above Tangdar in Karnah received their first snow fall. The lower regions and the valley of Teetwal and parts of Uri tehsil experienced incessant rain hampering relief operations.

Three days after the earthquake on October 10, a two member team of Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) visited the earthquake devastated areas of Uri tehsil, and found the army, the Border security Force (BSF) and other paramilitary organisations engaged in rescue and relief operations. Several voluntary groups from Srinagar and other areas were also visible distributing food, blankets, mattresses and warm clothing. The civil administration was hardly visible. As reported in the media, the bulk of the supply of food, medicines and warm clothing was provided by the civil society groups from Kashmir and a few other states of India.

The government of Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir within a week of the disaster announced that every family in the earthquake devastated tehsils of Uri and Karnah would be given a compensation of Rs. 100,000 to rebuild their homes. While money is required by the survivors for rebuilding homes, providing money without a comprehensive rehabilitation package based on a proper assessment of damage and examination of technical feasibility of rebuilding under the prevailing conditions, has added to the confusion. Moreover, the state government began disbursing money, even before making arrangements for the supply of tool kits and building materials. The earthquake having devastated all markets in the tehsils of Uri and Karnah, there is very little building materials available locally. Reportedly the prices of cement, timber and corrugated galvanized iron sheets have gone up dramatically.

While the state administration was grappling with the task of procuring building materials and stocking these at different centres in Uri and Karnah, untimely rain, hail storm and early snow in Tangdar indicated that there was no time for the people to rebuild their houses. It is clear that what is immediately necessary at this juncture is the building of protective shelters with whatever materials that can be salvaged from the ruins of their homes. Form an examination of the damaged houses conducted ten days after the earthquake, with the assistance of technical experts from Peoples' Science Institute, Dehradun, the PIPFPD team came to the conclusion that any attempt to rebuild the houses in a hasty manner would be counter productive. Some work needs to be done to determine ways to improve the design and structure of the houses to make them earthquake resistant. Also, the area is still rather unstable as medium to small landsides were continuing.

Need of Rehabilitation Policy/package

To further complicate the situation, the lack of any official policy and programmes for relief and rehabilitation of livelihoods, has resulted in survivors stockpiling relief materials. According to media reports, victims have been trying to get more compensation per family by claiming that adult male members owned separate homes. This was bound to happen for the victims have not only lost their homes, they have lost all their assets – their businesses, animals and others means of livelihood.

A damage assessment survey by engineering and revenue personnel in consultation with home-owners is absolutely necessary to develop a realistic idea of the cost of rehabilitation which includes both rebuilding of houses and restoration of livelihood. A rehabilitation package should be more than mere compensation for the damage to homes. It should have an integrated strategy for the supply of building material that included directions/subsidies to brick kilns, steel manufacturers, cement manufacturers; forest department/saw mills; wholesale and retail suppliers; transporters; fixing of rates. The rehab package should provide technical training and supervision both for temporary shelters and rebuilding homes; mason and home-builder training; locations and schedules to be identified; demonstration models to be constructed at actual owner locations. It should begin with temporary shelters and restoration of disrupted supplies with particular attention to diversion channels and turbine channels; construction of soak pits or double pit pour flush latrines

There should be a policy for posting of medical personnel and supply of drugs and equipment to settlements; seriously injured/ill to be transported to centres; identification and access to trauma care centres; popular booklets on first aid and family-based support should be provided.

Livelihoods restoration / credit: Depending upon main and subsidiary occupations credit and supply lines for animals and agricultural and animal husbandry inputs

Road / air access: PWD/BRO to keep roads clear through winter until required, particularly for Karna tehsil; airdropping in critical areas may be necessary

As house construction can begin only in March-April; provision for interim relief for survival for 5 months on per capita basis, taking into consideration the specific needs of infants, mothers, and aged.

The Work of Kashmir Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Coordination Committee:

PIPFPD in collaboration with The Other Media and a few Delhi based organizations set up the Kashmir Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Fund for raising funds for relief work in the two earthquake devastated districts of Kashmir on the Indian side of the LoC. Peoples' Science Institute (PSI) which has experience in earthquake rehabilitation and rebuilding earthquake resistant houses in Uttarkashi and Chamouli has become a part of this initiative. The experts from PSI have already visited the affected areas and are working on both mid term and long term measures to be undertaken.

We have also set up links with the national executive of PIPFPD, Pakistan for undertaking similar work in the earthquake devastated areas of Kashmir on Pakistan side of the LoC. We have already shared technical information on the nature of the damage caused to the structures by the earthquake. The damage survey form designed by PSI has been sent to Pakistan PIPFPD. We have also received technical advice from Pakistani engineers on the nature of the structures to be created as a part of the rehabilitation package. We have been informed by PIPFPD Pakistan that they have raised a contribution of about 4.5 million Pakistani Rupees for assisting the earthquake victims on the India side of the LoC. We are trying to get clearance from Government of India to receive this contribution.

On the Indian side of the Loc, thanks to our members and friends, we were able to send substantial quantities of blankets, quilts, warm clothing, tarpaulins, heavy PVC sheets and medicines to earthquake affected villages in Uri and Karnah for distribution. Our volunteers travelled to far flung villages in the upper reaches of the hills and near the LoC. Several volunteers including a group of doctors also went to the devastated areas of Uri and helped the victims. The materials were donated by our members from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Lucknow.

We received two Sumo vehicles from TATA Automobiles free of cost for our use for a month in Kashmir. Hindustan Computers Limited has donated three computers for the field office in Srinagar. Reliance Ltd. also donated several hundred heavy PVC sheets for use as shelter materials at our request.

South Asia Forum for Human Rights and their partner Alternatives have agreed to bear all the costs of the field office in Srinagar and the information centre in Delhi. The field office in Srinagar became functional within a week of the thanks to Vijayan M.J. and Shivani Mohan who volunteered to go to Srinagar and set up the office. The Srinagar office has been functioning as coordination cum facilitation centre for all those who want to participate in the relief and rehabilitation work. The centre has been holding regular meetings with Kashmir organizations and volunteers from Kashmir and other parts of India. It has been gathering and disseminating information on the ground situation and informing others about the kind of help, materials and volunteers that are required. At present the centre is managed by Vijaya Chauhan, Shivani Mohan, Sakeena Khan, Shaiq and Sajad Hussain. Vijayan is now commuting between Srinagar and Delhi coordinating the work at both ends. In Srinagar our team is also assisted by Mr. Aziz and Mr. G. R. Dar two senior civil engineers.

With the emergency relief phase now over, the Relief and Rehabilitation Centre has the following Objectives

Collecting information on the damage caused by the earthquake & its impact on the lives and livelihood of the affected population. Preparing a data base and centralising information: Sharing the data with all national and international relief and rehabilitation organisation in order to better coordinate the immediate, mid-term and long-term rehabilitation efforts.

Support for relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation in Kashmir; Facilitating collection of required materials for reconstruction and transporting these to the affected areas

Helping local communities and Kashmiri organizations in building earthquake resistant temporary shelters to protect the homeless during the coming severe Himalayan winter.

Conducting a house to house damage assessment survey in the affected villages of Uri and Karnah tehsils. Data from the survey will be utilised to ascertain what kind of local materials were used; what kind of techniques were used in the construction of the stone and mud walls, the construction of the roof and other details. Local knowledge and capacities will be drawn upon to develop a design of earthquake resistant structures with local materials so that when the people rebuild their homes they are relatively safer.

The survey will also yield data about what how much of the construction materials like timber and tin sheets are salvageable and what additional materials would be required. We will also look at the livelihood patterns and the usage of space so that future designs would cater for these aspects. The data will be shared with all non-governmental and governmental organisations in Kashmir and with the governments of India and Pakistan in order to develop a meaningful rehabilitation package.

The survey is being conducted by PIPFPD-Kashmir Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Coordination Committee (KERRCC) on the basis of a structured format. We have gathered a team of about 150 volunteers from the two districts and a few civil engineers from Kashmir are helping us with this work. The volunteers have already been given some training on data collection. Pilot surveys were conducted to familiarise the volunteers with the survey forms and its requirements. We are in the process of setting up a base-camp in Tangdar for about 50 volunteers and their team leaders who will be engaged in the survey work in Karnah Tehsil. Mr. Sajad Hussain and volunteers of Hussaini Relief Committee have taken the responsibility for this area. The survey work in Uri will be conducted by volunteers from Baramula and Uri. Mr. Azij and his colleagues have taken the responsibility for the survey in Uri. Vijaya Chauhan is overall in charge. Shivani Mohan and others will be responsible for the supervision of the data entry and analysis.

Temporary Shelters & Rebuilding Homes

Technical experts from PSI are going to return to Kashmir next week to help the local villagers in the construction of effective mid term shelters. They are already working on designs for cost effective winter shelters for the earthquake-affected people with available materials. We hope to distribute technical information about insulation and wind proofing through posters and booklets in Urdu.

It is apparent that we will have to remain involved in long term rehabilitation work. The tasks that need to be undertaken after the winter season is over and the people start rebuilding their homes on both sides of the LoC are:

• Disseminating information about earthquake resistant houses through posters and handbooks
• Holding training programmes for masons, carpenters and construction workers with the help of experts in alternative housing construction and local engineers
• Construction of model houses with the help of experts and local Kashmiri groups.

In conclusion I need to point out that the response of the Indian civil society and the Indian business community to this disaster has been less than expected. The India civil society and the business community showed its generosity again whether in cases of earthquake in Latur, Gujarat and Uttarkashi or in case of tsunami in Andhra and Tamilnadu. The winter is closing in. The survivors of the earthquake in Kashmir on both sides of the LoC need our help and assistance desperately. Let us not fail them.