From: pakistan@xxxxxxxx
Date: January 19, 2006 11:02:22 AM EST
To: pakistan@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Recommended: "Harsh Pakistan winter slows quake aid"
pakistan@xxxxxxxx recommends this article from The Christian
Science Monitor
From Barry
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Headline: Harsh Pakistan winter slows quake aid
Byline: David Montero Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
Date: 01/18/2006
(BANA, PAKISTAN)It was his lunch hour, but Major Sherjeel had
forsaken food and prayers
to inspect the road to Pashto, a remote mountain hamlet among the
worst
hit by October's earthquake. What he found did not please him.
The road was little more than a muddied ledge thousands of feet above
the Allai Valley that had caved in after a recent tremor, opening a
chasm that no vehicle could pass. Shelter supplies - including
life-saving sheets of corrugated iron - were now cut off from Pashto.
And the sky was threatening snow again.
The road would take five days to repair, the major says. Many would
have to shiver in tents in the meantime, or make do with other
forms of
inadequate shelter. "This is the third time we've had to do this, the
third time in the same spot," says Sherjeel, a member of the Pakistan
military's 104th Engineer Battalion. "There's no permanent solution."
The collapsing road to Pashto is a metaphor for winter relief
operations in northern Pakistan. It demonstrates that, despite the
dedication of people like Sherjeel, efforts to aid survivors at high
altitudes remain precarious and fragile.
Relief workers and the Pakistan Army recently marked 100 days of
operations since October's earthquake killed 86,000 and left more than
3 million homeless. Their progress has helped avert large-scale deaths
due to the cold or outbreaks of communicable diseases.
Relief agencies warn the days ahead are likely to be tougher.
Innumerable tents at higher altitudes have collapsed under the first
snows, highlighting the need for more substantial shelter, while
inclement weather has halted the distribution of relief goods by air
and road.
Some camps, meanwhile, are nearly overflowing and relief agencies,
including the United Nations and the World Food Program, complain of
not having enough cash and hands to sufficiently oversee the relief.
"One hundred days into the process, all is not well. The survivors
remain under threat," Jan Vandemoortele, humanitarian coordinator for
the UN, said at a press conference in Islamabad. "The test is still
on."
The crux of that test remains the 400,000 people living at higher
altitudes, nearly 100,000 in the Allai Valley alone. The conditions in
this valley, now a focal point of relief efforts, are typical of both
the progress and problems of the post-quake scenario.
Abdul Wahab's temporary home is a refuge from the wintry slopes of
Bana, the snow-covered capital of Allai Valley. His walls are three
feet of stone, topped by three feet of wood planks, based on
specifications provided by the Army and relief agencies. Corrugated
galvanized iron (CGI) sheets serve as the roof, ensuring the structure
is light, Sherjeel explains. "God forbid, if there's a tremor, people
won't get as hurt."
A consortium of relief agencies, working with the military, has helped
build more than 6,700 shelters like this in Allai Valley. The CGI
sheets are provided free of cost, and the timber and stone are
salvaged
from old homes, keeping costs low.
Still, Mr. Wahab is one of the fortunate few. Logistical challenges,
such as the road to Pashto, have meant that only 30 percent of
required
shelters have been built here, according to Army estimates. The
International Organization for Migration (IOM) recently tried to send
3,200 CGI sheets, enough for about 320 shelters, to Bana, but
landslides, snow, and ice prevented the delivery. "With snow and rain
here, we're going to have an extremely hard time delivering goods,"
says Darren Boisvert, IOM's public information officer, adding that
recent weather conditions have also grounded helicopter flights.
There are also concerns that many survivors are rebuilding their homes
with heavy flat roofs and stone masonry, elements that made them
deadly
in the first place.
"They're building the old way. It's a problem," says Anna Pont,
project
manager for UN-Habitat, adding that A-frame structures and wood
masonry
are much safer. The next challenge for relief agencies, Ms. Pont and
others say, is providing training to ensure that what survivors build
doesn't simply collapse again.
For now, shelter is only part of the problem. The number of cases of
pneumonia and acute respiratory infections are rising, according to
doctors at a hospital in Bana run by Save the Children, a relief
organization.
Access to medical treatment is also limited, with Save the Children's
hospital and a Cuban medical camp the only full-time medical
facilities
in the Allai Valley. Army officers spoke of one man who carried his
gravely ill infant daughter for miles to Pashto only to find no
clinic.
The girl apparently died on the return trip.
Conditions like this continue to push many survivors further down the
valley, straining already overcrowded camps.
The Maira Relief Camp in Battagram, just south of Allai, is the
largest
in the quake zone. Steam hangs over its 2,300 tents, where stoves burn
throughout the day, keeping more than 16,000 inhabitants warm. While
the laughter of children resounds like a promising refrain, about 300
new survivors arrive here daily from Allai, threatening shortages.
The road to recovery this winter is thin and easily broken, like the
road to Pashto. Weary men trudge its passes each day, carrying food
and
supplies on their backs. They are determined and there is hope, but
also a sense of uncertainty.
"What I can say is that we are living paycheck to paycheck," says Mr.
Vandemoortele of the UN, adding that the agency had received only $321
million in donations, about half of its appeal. "Cash and coordination
are crucial."
(c) Copyright 2006 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights
reserved.
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