LEAD Pakistan’s Role in Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Efforts

Northern Pakistan saw the most catastrophic earthquake of the recent history on October 8, with a magnitude of 7.6 recorded on the Richter scale. It is difficult to assess the exact degree of damage caused by the quake but a modest estimate is more than 40,000 dead, 65,000 plus injured and many villages and towns destroyed or seriously damaged. The property loss is said to be in billions and the most effected part is the physical infrastructure and housing. In order to provide relief to the earthquake victims, large scale coordinated effort is required on part of the government, NGOs, and civil society. Inspite the fact that all these players are already in action, relief efforts need to be geared up as 30-40% of the effected areas are yet to receive any kind of aid/assistance.

Right from the onset, LEAD Pakistan has also been active in providing relief support and pursuing an approach that can address various dimensions of the issue. Our network of Fellows & Associates has been activated to draw upon their professional strengths and access in effected locale and communities. The expanded outreach and partnerships with other organizations has helped set up a mechanism through which relief assistance is being systematically delivered to the affected communities of Mansehra and adjoining areas. LEAD Pakistan’s relief efforts are explicated as follows:

1.   Mobilizing Donations & Relief Provisions: a collection point has been set up at LEAD Pakistan office to collect donations and to channelize basic survival items to affected communities of Mansehra and bordering areas. Corporate partners such as Siemens and Telenor have already committed specific items in support of the subject relief programme. A base camp has also been set up in Mansehra in collaboration with other NGOs like Serendip, Community Uplift Programme, and Adventure Foundation. This 15 room facility will house the medical teams and ration necessary items for provision on a need basis. The identified NGOs will collaborate to run this facility for effective operations and relief support through engaging the local community for damage assessment and provision of relief goods. Efforts are also being made to mobilize funds from other LEAD Programme in other countries, LEAD International UK and body of International LEAD Fellow Network for maximum collection and relief.

2.   Medical Aid: Teams of doctors and paramedics volunteering their services to LEAD Pakistan have been grouped and sent to affected areas of Mansehrawith medical supplies to provide immediate relief to the injured. This process will be continued on a rotational basis and will also cover Azad Kashmir to avoid break out of epidemics.

3.   Volunteers: Volunteers from different walks of life such as students, professionals, house wife’s etc. have been mobilized to provide psychological counseling to patients brought from disaster hit areas to hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Each volunteer will work 6 hours for 2 weeks in selected hospitals to help trauma victims and assist in reuniting families by collecting requisite information on the patients. The first batch of volunteers has been organized to receive training on the assigned task. Some of these volunteers will later be sent to Mansehra and Azad Kashmir to support the relief operations.

Rehabilitation Support Plan

Following the primary relief operations Phase II of the relief support will involve the following activities:

1.   Rehabilitation Strategy: Once the immediate relief operations end in the effected areas, LEAD Pakistan intends to convene all key stakeholders to deliberate on loopholes in emergency preparedness and efficacy of governance system to respond to the requirements to devise an integrated rehabilitation strategy.

2.   Adopt a Community: LEAD Pakistan will focus its rehabilitation activities on a small village/community to develop a model that conforms to integrated community development including social, economic, architectural and psychological support. The model will be up scaled and replicated in other parts with the help of government, donors and philanthropists. In order to cover larger area, customized capacity building packages will also be developed for other NGOs and CBOs to pursue similar efforts.

3.   Rehabilitation of Schools:  One of the challenges in rehabilitation process is to establish model schools to ensure that children of affected families continue their education in dignified manner. LEAD Pakistan intends to support the process by providing its value-add in the curriculum, building design and link with the community for school management.

4.   Building codes and land-use plans:  In light of seismic forecasting, the affected area and surrounding belts become vulnerable of similar intensity earthquakes in the future. These risks could be minimized by establishing and enforcing building codes and land-use plans for reconstruction efforts. LEAD Pakistan intends to build capacities of concerned agencies to develop sustainable infrastructure and to ensure that natural resource related livelihood of local community remains in tact. 

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