While touring the towns and villages of Balakot, Mansehra, Bagh, Sodan Valley and Muzaffarabad nobody can fail to be struck by the evidence of widespread physical destruction. Thousands of mud and concrete buildings have crumbled. Balakot is completely destroyed. Some villages have forever disappeared along with their inhabitants. For example near Chikar in Sudan Valley entire villages have disappeared as colossal chunks from two neighboring mountains dropped into a valley that divided them. The valley and the nullah flowing through the valley have both been blocked forever. Mercifully, most towns and villages have only been partially destroyed.
Talking to many earthquake victims makes it clear that they are keen to rebuild on their ancestral lands. They will retain their old ways of living and being. While many have moved south to Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Lahore hundreds and thousands have stayed on. What they are frantically looking for is appropriate construction material for immediate protection. That includes tents, plastic coverings, corrugated iron (CI) sheets, basic tools and nails and nuts. In many of the relief camps set up in the smaller towns for the villagers from the mountainous surroundings, the victims are ready to take control of their lives and begin "reconstructing" it.
On Oct. 28 around 50 people from a mountainous village - Andora Sehri Union Council Salmaya district Bagh - trekked for more than an hour to the National Rural Support Project's (NRSP) relief camp. People from neighboring villages of UC Salmaya were also present. They complained of receiving no support from the army. An army relief camp in Soodhan gali to "feed" the village had been stoned and fired at. The camp had been closed down. They were now receiving food aid from NRSP. However their village, with approximately 1000 inhabitants, had yet to be surveyed by the NRSP organizers before they could be provided shelter equipment. There was no roof over their head except distant skies and no shelter from the harsh weather. They asked for tents but preferred CI sheets and tools kits. They agreed with the NRSP management that CI sheets would withstand the weather better; they could also be used for permanent housing structures. More important, they were keen on constructing their shelters themselves. They immediately nominated two from amongst the present villagers to become part of the NRSP survey team that was going to the village hours later to assess the conditions and requirements of the Andora Sehri.
Last week the renowned sociologist-architect Arif Hasan made a very valid point in a radio program and in the print media: Self-help, appropriate technology with some help and guidance from an efficiently managed rehabilitation and reconstruction setup is the way forward for reconstruction. Such a participatory approach would also provide confidence and the healing touch that is now required for those who were worst hit when all hell broke loose on Oct.8.
The government has already announced that it will construct model colonies for the earth quake-hit population using the best quake technologies available in the world. The government has announced that it is keen to prevent people from constructing in what have now been discovered to be high-risk active earthquake zones. These are good intentions but will require wise planning.
Perhaps the best way for the government's Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Bureau appears to be to work in active partnership with nongovernment organizations like the Rural Support Projects (RSPs), Sungi and others familiar with the local conditions and communities and with individuals like Arif Hasan and Tasneem who combine architecture skills with understanding of local sociology, and provide the following services to the 3.3 million people as they reconstruct their own homes:
Ñ Offer them a set of options for quake-resistant and locally appropriate construction designs and technologies.
Explaining the technologies and the rationale for recommending them to the end-users would be essential to make sure they adopt them.
- Provide them support in the form of construction materials and tool kits etc. To avoid duplication and unnecessary delays, a fair distribution and efficiently managed quick-response plus actively monitored distribution system must be put in place. Special arrangements for reconstruction of houses for widowed women and handicapped families must be made.
- Streamline internal and external supply lines for rapid procurement of good quality construction material. Given the black marketing in goods and services ranging from coffin cloth to bus services and truckers there is a need for greater yet rational state controls in times of emergency.
- Provide them information on the dangerously active earthquake zones unfit for construction and declare them to be "no-construction zones." This must be a transparent process convincing the public of the credibility of those who are making these decisions.
Meanwhile for the thousands of government buildings including offices, police stations, schools etc. that have to be reconstructed the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Bureau will have to use not only quake-resistant construction technology but also corruption-resistant construction companies.
The physical reconstruction task is already at hand. The earthquake victims have the confidence to initiate shelter procurement and reconstruction activities. The government must effectively provide the support they require. The public should be regularly informed of the targets, operations and the actual achievements of Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Bureau.
