Pakistan Earthquake 2005

Special packages for doctors in quake areas

The NWFP government has made a plan to rehabilitate health infrastructure in the quake-hit districts and to offer special salary packages to health professionals posted there.

Speaking at a workshop on ‘District health planning and advocacy,’ at the Khyber Medical College (KMC) on Wednesday, Health Secretary Abdul Samad Khan said that the provincial government had decided to offer a monthly salary of Rs 80,000 to the doctors serving in the affected areas.

He said the government had initially sanctioned a Rs 90 million grant to purchase medicines.

Belgium considering swap of 60m euro debt with quake aid

Belgium is considering allowing Pakistan to swap its 60 million euro debt to the European country with aid for reconstruction work in the earthquake-affected areas, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht told reporters on Wednesday.

“My country will consider seriously to write off the loan of 60 million euros,” Mr De Gucht said after talks with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Kasuri.

PPAF launches project for quake-hit areas

The Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) launched its Restoration of Earthquake Affected Communities & Households Project (REACH) with a funding of Rs 1.6 billion from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed, deputy chairman of the Earthquake Rehabilitation & Reconstruction Authority (ERRA) was the chief guest at the launching ceremony held on Wednesday.

In his inaugural address, the chief guest praised the role of IFAD and PPAF in development of rural areas. He said rehabilitation is a big challenge for the country and REACH would play an important role. He said that approximately 600,000 homes had been assessed for damage and compensation given to 40,000 affected people. Ahmad Jamal acting chief executive PPAF, Nigel Brett country portfolio manager of IFAD, and Steve Jones coordinator for the World Bank also spoke on the occasion.

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.

Humanitarian Information Centre (HIC) for Pakistan

The Humanitarian Information Centre (HIC) for Pakistan is a common service to the humanitarian community managed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and operates in coordination with a number of partners including the United Nations Joint Logistics Cell (UNJLC), the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO).

The HIC provides a range of services and products designed to help organisations to make operational decisions during the emergency period. These include orientation products (including contact lists and meeting schedules), map products (covering issues from administrative boundaries to security concerns) and technical advice to organisations to help them manage data and information more effectively.

Australia Contributes A$20 Million to ADB’s Pakistan Earthquake Fund

The Government of Australia, through the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), has made an A$20 million contribution to Asia Development Bank’s Pakistan Earthquake Fund (PEF).

The PEF was established in November 2005 to pool and promptly deliver emergency grant financing for projects that support immediate reconstruction, urgent rehabilitation, and other associated development activities in earthquake-affected areas in the country. ADB made an initial contribution of US$80 million to the fund.

“We are very grateful for this contribution from the Government of Australia, which will be used for the much needed reconstruction of education and health facilities in Azad Jammu and Kashmir damaged by the earthquake,” says Werner Liepach, Principal Director of ADB’s Office of Cofinancing Operations.

Kashmir Education Foundation to setup schools in earthquake hit areas

The Kashmir Education Foundation (KEF), which is already running three educational institutions in the country, has planned to set up two more schools and an institute of teacher’s education in Azad Kashmir and rest of the Pakistan within next two to three years.

Speaking at a press conference, KEF Chairman Maj Gen (retd) M Rahim Khan said that the foundation in 1996 had established two institutions i.e. Pearl Valley Public School (PVPS) and Institute of Teacher Education (ITE) in Rawlakot and Azad Kashmir, as pilot projects of the KEF.

Ben Kingsley at Pakistani event for quake relief

Oscar-winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley, who recently returned from the earthquake-hit areas of northern Pakistan, which he visited on behalf of Relief International, is to attend a fund-raiser organised by a group of Pakistani professionals in California on 3 June.

Kingsley, was accompanied to Pakistan by filmmaker Chip Duncan for the shooting of a short documentary highlighting the work done by Relief International and emphasising the need for an international effort stretched over a much longer period. Kingsley became famous as Mahatma Gandhi in the Richard Attenborough film ‘Gandhi’ released in 1982. It won eight Oscars. The event has been organised by the Organisation of Pakistani Entrepreneurs and Professionals (OPEN), a voluntary, non-profit group “dedicated to the promotion of entrepreneurship and professional excellence”.

NASA Derived Telemedicine Assists Pakistan Survivors

Kathleen Connell reports in her blog about NASA derived Telemedicine assistance for earthquake survivors in Pakistan.

The NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center RPC conducted a humanitarian medical mission to Pakistan, in order to work with doctors there and introduce telemedicine- a product of Apollo.

Telemedicine is one of the many ways taxpayer funded NASA technology can be redeployed to assist those in isolated regions.

Photographic catharsis of earthquake affected children

A photography exhibition at the Khaas Art Gallery shows the earthquake tragedy through the eyes of children, depicting their life in the tent villages of NWFP and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) that gave them temporary shelter.

Organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with Communityspeak, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), the exhibition displays the outcome of two photography workshops for children conducted in the beginning of 2006 in the tent villages of Manshera, NWFP and Muzzaffarabad. The workshops aimed at encouraging children to photograph their lives in the internally displaced people (IDP) camps. The trainers distributed 35 mm cameras and gave basic photography training. Through the photographs, children have described their life in the tent villages.