Pakistan Earthquake 2005

Fatima Bhutto questions efficacy of quake relief efforts

Fatima Bhutto, daughter of late Murtaza Bhutto, and grand-daughter of former prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and author of “8:50 AM: stories of hope and courage from the earthquake areas”, resorting to plain speaking and in a tone of cynicism, put forth some searching questions about the October 8, 2005 earthquake. She was speaking at the launch of her book at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday.

Thanking the other speakers for their tributes, she brought up some very intricate issues.

FM99 to update earthquake affected about their recovery

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has launched a radio programme to update earthquake affected people affecting their recovery. The programme, launched in collaboration with the media wing of Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) will be aired in Islamabad and earthquake-affected areas. A daily half-hour show to be aired on radio FM 99 will be based interviews on with government policy-makers, aid workers, returnees and people living in relief camps.

Source: Daily Times

Quake-hit areas face massive landslide threat

The World Conservation Union (IUCN), the World Wide Fund (WWF) and CARE International are predicting a serious environmental hazard in the earth quake- affected areas and have issued an alert bulletin highlighting the threats for the up coming monsoon season.

Environmentalists are saying that the unstable earth, resulting from the earthquake, may cause massive landslides and loss of life and agricultural land in the event of heavy or extended rains. According to Dr David Petley of University of Durham it was probably the greatest landslide threat in the world.

Normal life returning to quake-hit areas: WHO

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) country representative in Pakistan Dr Kahlif Mohammad Bile has said that revival of normal life has begun in the earthquake-hit areas of Pakistan and said that joint efforts of world health bodies were going on in this regard.

He was addressing the handing over ceremony of 12 prefabricated basic health units (BHU) in the quake-hit districts of the NWFP to the provincial government at Ayub Medical College on Saturday, a press release stated.

Dr Bile said that all pre-fabricated units were equipped with the latest machinery, furniture, a vehicle and an ambulance along with three months stock of medicines.

100,000 quake survivors to live in camps till next winter: United Nations

At least 100,000 people left homeless after the devastating earthquake in northern Pakistan last year will have to live in camps till the next winter, Jan Vandemoortele, the United Nations resident coordinator, said on Monday.

Talking to reporters, Vandemoortele said there were several thousand homeless people who would have to live in the camps because their plots had been washed away or their native localities fell in a ‘red zone’ where the risks of further earthquakes are high.

The October 8, 2005 earthquake left 300,000 homeless, most of whom have started returning to their homes. “There will still be an estimated 100,000 people who will be living in the camps till the next winter,” he said.

Artificial lakes may flood Kashmir areas

The artificial lakes that shaped as a result of the devastating earthquake that hit Pakistan last year may sink the nearby areas as water level in these lakes is dangerously rising.

The Karli Lake, some 60km from Muzaffarabad and the other near Hattian Bala are a threat to over 50,000 people living in nearby villages including Hafiz Bandi, Bani Hafiz, Sukh Naina, Chakli, Pano Bindi and Saleemia.

In the coming months the ice melting on the high altitude mountains may increase the water level as embankments of these lakes already brimming due to landslides, official sources here say.

Relief Camps Shut Before Villages Are Rebuilt

The Pakistan government has come under scathing criticism from relief organisations for its recent decision to close down relief camps for the survivors of the massive earthquake last year which killed close to 73,000 people.

Twenty five camps in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and five in Pakistan administered Kashmir were closed by Apr. 9. The inmates were left with no option but to return to devastated villages, still without basic facilities and housing.

The Oct. 8 earthquake, 7.6 on the Richter scale, collapsed mountains, altered the course of waterways and reduced entire villages to rubble. Some 400,000 houses were destroyed. Most roads, schools and hospitals in the affected areas either collapsed or are unusable.

Pakistan quake zone still in ruins six months on

Earthquake survivors in Pakistan on Saturday were to mark six months since the disaster that killed more than 73,000 people, with reconstruction yet to start in most of the devastated area.

In the northwestern town of Balakot, that rebuilding work is never even going to happen. Authorities said last week they will relocate the ruined city and have banned further construction because it lies directly on a fault line. With around 90 percent of once-scenic Balakot’s houses, schools and shops reduced to rubble, residents living in tents are asking what they are meant to do for the next five or so years while the new town is built.

Earthquake-proof certificates to be imposed in Rawalpindi Cantt

The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board has made it compulsory to get an earthquake-proof certificate prior to construction of new houses, shops and plazas in Cantt.

All construction engineers approved by the Pakistan Engineering Council will be able to issue these certificates for a fee of Rs 5,000 for five Marlas of land Rs 10,000 for 10 Marlas of land. Meanwhile, the Station Commander of the Cantonment Board, Sajjad Azam, on the recommendation of Executive Officer, Rafique Sial and Secretary Mian Mudassar Khan has aborted the motion to issue certificates for smaller houses.

Six months after earthquake, real work is just beginning

Six months after the devastating October 8 earthquake, the worst is over but the real hard work is just beginning, Dan Toole, the head emergency programmes for the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday.

Although people are starting to return to their villages to begin the task of rebuilding their shattered lives, tens of thousands are still in camps and time is running out, he told Reuters on a visit to London after visiting the stricken area.

“We may be six months on from the earthquake and through a mercifully mild winter, but there is still the monsoon to come and the next winter is only seven months away,” Toole said.