Pakistan Earthquake 2005

Covering the earthquake, the damage and the relief work in Pakistan.

Archive for November, 2005

BBC Urdu taken off Pakistan radio

Pakistan’s government has penalised three broadcast partners of the BBC’s Urdu service for broadcasting special coverage of the Kashmir earthquake.

The stations were accused of breaking regulations by re-broadcasting material from a foreign news organisation.

Police seized broadcasting equipment and closed the offices of Karachi-based Mast FM, and ordered two satellite TV stations to stop using BBC broadcasts.

BBC programmes will still be available in Pakistan on medium and short wave.

Police in Karachi entered the offices of Mast FM with officials from the Pakistani Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA).

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Pregnant women at risk for miscarriages, even death

The UN estimates 40,000 pregnant women were among the 4 million people affected by the Oct 8 earthquake. Health officials say the temblor may have triggered miscarriage and premature labour, and could worsen Pakistan’s already dismal statistics on infant mortality. At the best of times, Pakistan’s health care system is barely adequate. The earthquake has heightened the problems by destroying most of the medical clinics and hospitals in the NWFP and Azad Kashmir.

“The primary health care system is all broken down,” said Shahida Fazil of the UN Population Fund. “Even before, it was a very fragile system and accessibility was a problem. Now, there is nothing.”

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Balakot after the earthquake

Atiqa Odho depressed by Earthquake destruction

Earthquake After Shocks

Allied Bank after Earthquake

Caltex Pertrol Pump

Hotel California

Relief Goods

Photos submitted by Omar Hassan

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Project Lifeline

The mission of Project Lifeline is to provide clean water as the source of a sustainable community. Project Lifeline helps rebuild communities that are suffering from an inadequate supply of water and poor sanitation caused by war, poverty and natural disaster. They claim that their designs provide clean water tailored to the needs of the specific village or community thereby empowering long-range planning, healthier life, gray-water irrigation and neighborhood development.

Project Lifeline can be extremely helpfull in the earthquake affected areas as their project entails a mobile water filteration and medical unit that can also provide a housing facility for the homeless. Since these units are insolated with solar energy, they provide protection from severe winter and summer weather conditions.

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Karavan Pakistan: Volunteers Required

Karavan Self-Built Houses require young architects, engineers, construction supervisors and other professionals to join Karavan-Dost Volunteers for 2 weeks from November 13, 2005.

Working alongsite Pakistan Army team, these volunteers would guide people in building safer homes with salvaged and local materials.

For details call 0333-3094988 Email: karavanpakistan@gmail.com

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Huge number of toilets urgently needed in quake-hit north

An acute lack of latrines in quake-affected areas of northern Pakistan, where millions of survivors live under dire sanitary conditions, will undermine health and could lead to serious disease outbreaks unless immediate action is taken, aid workers warn.

“We need to build about 200,000 toilets,” Andrew MacLeod, head of the UN Emergency Coordination Centre, told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

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Report from Pawspakistan.org

I just got back to Karachi after spending two weeks filming in Balakot.

Balakot is a small town in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, about 60 miles north of Islamabad. Located near the quake’s epicenter, it is said to be among the worst devastated.

We visited a few small villages up in the mountains around Balakot, and everywhere we went it was the same story. The people in these areas depend on subsistence farming and their livestock for survival. A large number of the livestock has been killed, and the remaining is without any sort of shelter.

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Visionary creates mobile houses for quake victims

In the midst of this philanthropic deluge, ‘Green Earth’ has emerged as a company with a realistic solution to the problem of providing shelter to the millions left homeless by the quake. Headed by Zafar Bhatti – son of war hero Maj Aziz Bhatti Shaheed (Nishaan-e-Haider) – ‘Green Earth’ has manufactured environmentally-friendly mobile houses made of recycled plastic and Tetra Pak cartons. 16 gauge rustproof steel pipes support the houses, which measure 12 x 12 feet and are shaped like huts. The 8mm-thick outer layer of the houses are made of high density polythene, laminated with cloth and spray painted for extra protection. A one-inch glass-wool insulation layer has been placed between the inner and the outer sheets to fireproof the structure. The inner walls have alos been painted with fire retardant and water resistant paint.

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