Aftermath
Authorities in Pakistani Kashmir on Tuesday began winding up one of the first informal tent camps established for survivors of last year’s deadly earthquake.
The closure of the camp set up in Jalalabad Park in Muzaffarabad, the devastated capital of Pakistani Kashmir, came days ahead of the first anniversary of the earthquake.
The camp was opened on October 9, a day after the quake struck northern Pakistan, killing more than 73,000 people and leaving more than three million destitute. “Yes, today we have started shifting people to another place because the government wants to revive the park,” camp manager Maqbool Shah told Reuters.
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The National Engineering Services of Pakistan (NESPAK) is all set to prepare a new building code for Pakistan to protect buildings against future damages caused by high intensity earthquakes. It has already prepared a building code for Islamabad, AJK and some parts of the NWFP that were hit by last year’s earthquake.
The new building code will be implemented by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in Islamabad for all new constructions in the city. NESPAK has also submitted the code to the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA) to ensure that it is followed in the construction works in the affected areas, said NESPAK Managing Director Chaudhry Karamatullah in a presentation regarding the rehabilitation and reconstruction schemes in the earthquake-affected areas. The presentation was chaired by Federal Minister for Water and Power Liaqat Ali Jatoi on Tuesday.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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