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Quake survivors face another winter in tents
One year on, only about 15% of earthquake survivors in the two most northern provinces are with permanent shelter. DanChurchAid will therefore be helping many thousands more through another difficult winter.
“We will be helping to repair the run-down tents and makeshift shelters so that survivors can get through the cold period. There is also a need for food and medicine”, says DanChurchAid relief worker in Pakistan, Usman Adam.
The Pakistani government has co-ordinated the rebuilding process but it has been a bigger task than first anticipated. Insurance cases have been drawn out and some villages will have to be rebuilt outside the risk zones. Some areas have had 2000 aftershocks within the last year.
“We really need more money. We have made an appeal for 135 million Danish kroner through Action by Churches Together (ACT) and so far we have only received commitment for 19 million Danish kroner”, says DanChurchAid Relief Director, Erik Johnson.
Collected money made a big difference
Last year, DanChurchAid launched an appeal and collected over 14 million Danish kroner for relief work in Pakistan. The money was used for food rations, water supply, sanitation as well as shelter packets consisting of either big warm tents or thick sheets of tarpaulin for a total of 30,000 families in Kashmir and North West Frontier Province.
“We have succeeded in saving many of the survivors from the aftermath of the earthquake. We also avoided the epidemics that could have broken out in the camps where so many people live so close together”, says Usman Adam.
The official tent camps closed down at the end of March this year and survivors returned to their place of origin to rebuild their villages.
However, winter is drawing close and the first snow has already fallen in the highest areas. DanChurchAid has already started to prepare people for the winter.
Help Pakistan
Based on an article written by journalist Peter Høvring ( ph@dca.dk ), published on www.noedhjaelp.dk , 5 October, 2006. Translated and edited by Heidi Rasmussen.
