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One year after Pakistan earthquake, Church World Service warns of new crisis this winter for 400,000 still homeless

October 10, 2006

ISLAMABAD - One year after the devastating 7.6 magnitude earthquake that killed some 80,000 people in northern Pakistan and Kashmir, more than 400,000 people are still without permanent shelter, and aid agency Church World Service is warning of a possible major health crisis in the face of what is anticipated to be an early and severe winter.

Recent monsoons that caused flash floods and landslides have killed at least 400 people and forced many already displaced by last year's quake to relocate again. Church World earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation workers on the ground have provided plastic sheeting, blankets, tents and food packages to affected families.

As a result of the floods and landslides, over 1,000 people have been shifted to camps in the earthquake-affected zone.

Last Friday (Oct 6) U.S. military cargo planes began flying fresh shipments of relief goods into Islamabad. But Church World Service Emergency Response Program Director Donna Derr says that, while the Pakistan quake emergency response is "fairly well funded overall, health funding is falling far behind."

Derr says the quake's survivors still have only about a third of the funding committed to meet continuing health needs.

"We can anticipate even greater health emergencies given winter and that so many people are still without homes. Recovery in Pakistan, despite all that's been done to date," she said, "may well take a decade."

CWS Pakistan and Afghanistan Country Director Marvin Parvez agrees that time is running out. "There's only a small window of time before winter hits, and there will be at least 200,000 people without proper shelter. We can't count on this winter being mild like last year. We're faced with a ticking time bomb," says Parvez.

This season, Parvez says Church World Service is initially committed to providing transitory shelters to about 2,000 households, shelter assistance to 5,000 more people, and food packages to help families in very isolated areas make it through the winter. Last year, following the October 8 quake, over 260,000 people left the ruins of their homes in devastated towns and remote mountain villages to spend the winter in some 700 crowded tent villages.

Church World Service has served in Pakistan and Afghanistan since 1954 and has seven offices in Kabul, Jalalabad, Mansehra, Murree, Islamabad, Lahore and a central office in Karachi. The agency was able to respond to the October 8 South Asia earthquake immediately and is continuing its on-the-ground recovery work, targeting both "the soft and hard side of reconstruction and rehabilitation," says Parvez.

Current CWS rehabilitation services are focusing on health, nutritional, medical and psychosocial supports, and livelihood skills training.

Much of the mounting frustration among the quake survivors is centered around a controversial housing program, reports Action by Churches Together (ACT), a global alliance of faith-based emergency response agencies with team members working in Pakistan. The Pakistan government has imposed a ban on housing construction by non-governmental organizations and instead is providing cash directly to survivors to rebuild their own homes.

In March, the government's Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) announced an installment plan to pay affected homeowners between $1,250 and $3,000 each, said to be two-thirds the cost of a simple family home. The program's $2 billion cost is covered by international donors.

Yet the installment plan has left many confused and created new difficulties. Many villagers lost their identity documents in the quake, and when they received their first checks in June were unable to cash them in a bank. Those with the right connections provided check-cashing services for a hefty fee--some as high as 40 percent of the 25,000 rupee ($400) first installment.

CWS's Parvez says, "The housing program is good in theory, but problematic in practice. In many places people are being left to fend for themselves."

Although the ERRA decision took Church World Service and other NGOs out of the role of helping survivors rebuild their homes, CWS quickly began providing other critical services in the quake-ravaged north, including rebuilding the economic infrastructure of rural village life.

CWS has established Construction Trades Training Centers in several quake-affected Pakistani towns, teaching carpentry, plumbing, welding, masonry and electrical skills to men whose lives were disrupted by the quake. Graduates receive a toolbox and valued Government-recognized diplomas, enabling the men to not only build new homes for their families, but find employment or start their own businesses.

The agency's livelihood program also provides sheep to female-headed households that lost their animals when stables collapsed. Church World Service has sponsored a similar program in Afghanistan, and Mansoor Raza, coordinator of the CWS Disaster Response Program, says it has worked well.

"When we provide three sheep to a woman, it's like opening a bank account," he says. "As women sell the wool, milk, and meat, they gain purchasing power, and as the animals reproduce, it's like building up more money in the bank." Women who receive donated livestock pledge to return an animal to the livestock "bank" a year later, which keeps the fund of animals going.

CWS Delivers 100,000 Native Trees to Reforest Hillsides

Church World Service is also providing more than 100,000 native trees for communities to reforest hillsides left bare by indiscriminate logging and exacerbated by this year's mudslides.

As the first anniversary of the quake approached, Saima Abbasi, team leader of the Church World Service Psychosocial Team, reported that CWS is now shifting its focus, encouraging survivors to become involved in community organization. The best therapy now, says Abbasi, is for survivors, particularly women, to become involved in the details of installing new water systems and planning other aspects of community life.

Church World Service is continuing its U.S. fundraising appeal, given the agency?s focus on long-term recovery for the least-served in the still-struggling earthquake zone.

Contributions to support the ongoing recovery of South Asia's earthquake survivors can be made online by credit card; by calling (800) 297-1516, ext. 222, or can be sent directly to:

Church World Service
Southern Asia Earthquake -- #6979
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515

Paul Jeffrey from Pakistan contributed to this report.

Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;

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