21 November 2006
Pakistan Makes Impressive Recovery from 2005 Earthquake
Houses, schools, hospitals replace tent cities, says U.S. aid agency
Washington – After the devastating earthquake in the mountains of Pakistan’s Kashmir region in October 2005, staff from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Army were on the scene within two days, first to rescue, then to reconstruct.
A year later, “The tents are gone. In their place are bright shiny roofs of corrugated iron reflecting the bright sunlight,” USAID official Mark Ward told the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America at its fall banquet in New York November 18. He said that while some refugees still will have to spend the winter with relatives or in camps, “[T]he vast majority of the nearly 3 million people displaced by the quake are no longer living in tents. They are in permanent and temporary homes that will see them through the winter.”
In early October, U.S. Army Chinook helicopters, so critical in 2005 rescue efforts, made a return visit to deliver construction materials to the region. (See related article.)
Ward said several schools were being rebuilt with USAID funding in and around Dadar village. The Dadar school reopened in October, and “is truly first class, better than any other school in the area,” he said. “[T]his, really is what our post-relief activities have been about. Building back better so parents need never fear sending their children to school again.”
USAID pledged $200 million toward earthquake reconstruction funds that will build schools, hospitals and clinics; improve education and health services; and help people regain lost livelihoods. The 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck on October 8, 2005, killed 73,338 people. It destroyed businesses. Farmers lost land and valuable livestock. USAID has worked hard with partner organizations in Pakistan to ensure that earthquake-safe buildings and services are made available so basic needs can be met and life can be restored to normal.
The initial goal is to complete 50 schools and 15 clinics. That includes constructing and furnishing the buildings and training for service providers. “We are improving care for pregnant women and newborns by upgrading 31 hospitals and training 2,000 community midwives,” Ward said, adding that work is on to eradicate polio, contain tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. “Access to health care will get better and better,” Ward said.
The emergency field hospital put up by the 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) unit in Muzaffarabad was transferred to the Pakistani military when the unit left in February so that earthquake victims in the area could continue to receive medical care. (See related article.)
During their tour of duty, MASH medical personnel implemented outreach programs that effectively prevented a post-earthquake disease outbreak. (See related article.)
A total of $510 million was pledged by the United States for earthquake relief and reconstruction. Ward said that, as a result of President Bush’s request to five American business leaders to raise funds for earthquake relief, private support “has totaled over $113 million in cash and in kind to the Pakistan earthquake relief and reconstruction efforts.”
Ward said reconstruction efforts involve Pakistani government, provincial, community and religious leaders, as well as the help of many local and international organizations.
The reconstruction work, focused primarily in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the Northwest Frontier province, is part of a total $1.5 billion package that the United States is providing for development in Pakistan over the next five years to improve health, education, good governance and economic growth.
Earlier in November, Assistant Secretary of State Richard A. Boucher told reporters in Islamabad that among the strategic goals the United States and Pakistan share are “the success of Pakistan as a nation, creating new opportunities for Pakistan’s people, and cooperation … on the international scene.” He said, “We are working together with the government of Pakistan to try to bring economic opportunity to the people who live in the outlying areas along Pakistan’s border.” Boucher also cited “our already enormous cooperation” in education, energy and science.
For more information, see U.S. Response to the Earthquake in South Asia and USAID/Pakistan.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
