Kashmir: Rehabitation After the Earth Quake

[Neo]

Monday, May 21, 2007

Rs 25-30b required yearly for Kashmir rehabilitation, says AJK president

LAHORE: Some Rs 25 to 30 billion are required per year to rehabilitate and reconstruct earthquake-affected areas, Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Raja Zulqarnain Khan said here on Sunday.

Within the next five to six years, the government will be able to reshape Kashmir and fully compensate victims of the October 2005 earthquake, he told journalists in a ‘Meet the Press’ programme at the Lahore Press Club.

“Out of two million affected, only 32,000 are still living in camps while the remainder have been transferred to alternate living areas,” he said, adding that the government has planned the reconstruction efforts along modern methods and non-government organisations are financially helping it.

The AJK president said that the government should focus on constructing the Kalabagh Dam instead of trying to expand the Tarbela Dam. He said without more water reservoirs, Pakistan could face a severe water crisis in the next 10 to 15 years. He said the present water shortage has already led to a decline in Pakistan’s agriculture sector. “The government of Pakistan should develop a consensus among the four provinces to construct the Kalabagh Dam instead of blaming India over the construction of the Baglihar Dam,” he added.

Zulqarnain said that both the Pakistan and Indian governments had declared that war was not the solution to the Kashmir issue. He said Pakistan was currently re-initiating the peace talks and had showed flexibility on the matter, but added that the Indian government was not serious about this matter. He said that all political parties should cooperate with the government on the Kashmir issue, adding that any changes in Pakistan would affect the ongoing negotiation process.

“We have requested the Organisation of Islamic Countries to play an effective role in helping to resolve the Kashmir issue as soon as possible,” the president said. He said the Muslim and Hurriyat Conference leaderships also shared a consensus that the Kashmir problem should be solved through negotiation, but stated that leadership of both sides of Kashmir should be taken into confidence before any final decision was reached.

APP adds: President Raja Zulqarnain said that 95 percent of the last 60 years’ development work had been destroyed in just moments by the earthquake. The first priority in the rehabilitation work is to provide shelters to victims and rehabilitate educational and health facilities, he added.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\21\story_21-5-2007_pg7_14

 

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600000 houses being built in earth quake hit areas in Pakistan

Tuesday, 12 February 2008

Chairman of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) Altaf M. Saleem said on Monday the rural housing programme in quake-hit areas, which once appeared to be an uphill task, was all set to be completed by June this year. Inaugurating a two-day national conference on engineering work in the earthquake-affected areas, he said that construction of 600,000 seismically-safe housing units, scattered over an area of 30,000 sq km, in one of the most difficult terrains of the world and that too under a totally new concept of construction by any standards, was a challenging task, but Erra took the initiative and made history.

He said: “This only became possible due to exemplary cooperation, meticulous planning and its efficient and effective implementation by a dedicated and devoted team attached with the programme, who applied themselves wholeheartedly to translate the government’s vision of ‘Build Back Better’ into reality.”

He said: “Our partnership with international organisations, the Pakistan Army and the civil society, especially the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), vouches for the fact that we all stand united against a common cause of meeting daunting challenges by an unprecedented calamity.”

Mr Saleem said that Erra did not impose its decisions on the affected population, rather it respected local culture, traditions and techniques.

He said that Erra tailored the indigenous techniques according to modern engineering practices which greatly enhanced their suitability and effectiveness.

He said that after completion 98 per cent of the rural houses would be ‘pakka houses’ as compared to 17 per cent ‘pakka houses’ before the earthquake.

He said that Erra had endeavoured to find economic solutions without compromising on the quality of work.

Recalling various issues that cropped up during the reconstruction process due to rigorous inspection standards, he said the discipline and patience exercised by the PPAF and other partners for compliance of Erra’s reconstruction guidelines in the NWFP and AJK were highly commendable.

About the conference, the chairman said that Erra and PPAF had jointly organised the event to reach common understanding on issues as well as strategise on how to facilitate beneficiaries who still do not fall under compliance category in connection with reconstruction of their houses.

He hoped the conference would help in reaching a common understanding as to what retrofitting guidelines should be used as inspection standards.

CEO PPAF Kamal Hyat said that they were mandated to reconstruct safe housing units in the 34 worst-affected union councils of the NWFP and AJK as per Erra guidelines, and added that all-out efforts were being made to ensure compliance with these guidelines.

600000 houses being built in earth quake hit areas in Pakistan - Unique Pakistan