When earthquakes happen, there is no warning sign and nor is there a safe place to hide. Climbing to a higher level or holding on to a tree will not save you. The chance of surviving by staying indoors is equal to running on to the street. But, when tectonic plates collide deep below and cause tremors on the earth’s surface powerful enough to destroy hundreds of thousand of lives and leave millions more broken, is there a solution?
THE FORCE OF NATURE
Kashmir lies in the area where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates are colliding. Out of this collision, the Himalayas began uplifting 50 million years ago, and continue to rise by approximately 5 mm each year. This geological activity is blamed for the earthquakes in this region including Afghanistan in 1998, Turkey in 1999, Gujarat, India in 2001, Bam, Iran in 2003, the Asian tsunami in 2004 and the most recent earthquake in Pakistan.
With eleven of the twenty-five highest mountains in the world and the greatest concentration of glaciers outside the polar regions, northern Pakistan is a land of astounding natural beauty. It is no surprise therefore that so many people dwell in this mountainous region. Yet, the same terrain would prove to become the biggest obstacle between life and death following the earthquake of October 8th 2005.
At 8.52 am, the ground shuddered with an immense force registering 7.6 on the Richter scale, its epicentre, 19 kilometres north-east of Muzzafarbad and 100 kilometres north-east of Islamabad. Throughout the day, aftershocks continued to relentlessly rip apart this canvas that once boasted a painting of breathtaking scenery. Before night fell, a colossal 147 aftershocks of a terrifying magnitude were experienced, one registering 6.2 – almost as powerful as the principal Bam earthquake. The earthquake in Bam registered 6.6 on the Richter scale, killed 46,000 and left another 60,000 homeless. A tremor of magnitude six is considered a ‘strong’ earthquake.
Survivors of the first day woke the following morning to be subjected to more aftershocks: 28 more tremors were experienced in the 4 days that followed and another 11 days later, the grounds were still fiercely shaking. Almost 2 weeks later, aftershocks of five on the Richter scale were registered.
A HUMANITARIAN CHALLENGE
With the breaking of the silence, the scale of devastation became apparent. It was difficult to fathom the carnage of this once serene setting of patchwork greenery interspersed with villages, disrupted only by the distant noise of the city far below. Mountains had collapsed and thousands of villages had been wiped of the face of the earth, taking with them any sign of life that once prospered here. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 87,000 had perished of which 35,000 were children; 400,000 homes had been destroyed leaving three million more homeless.
Public empathy, like for its predecessors, poured openly and relief agencies globally rushed to assist the affected people in Pakistan. The loss of lives here was smaller than the Asian tsunami but the challenge of rescuing the survivors was far more complex.
Two million perished in the Asian tsunami in 2004 but the number of affected people in the earthquake in Pakistan was four times greater. Reaching them in time became a perplexing scenario; the mountainous terrain hampered any ground-based relief operations while the air-borne support was provided by a mere 70 helicopters. The Asian tsunami relief operations had 4,000 at their disposal though the affected areas were coastal areas that were accessible by normal vehicles. But the biggest fear in the minds of the survivors and the relief agencies alike was yet to strike the region. Seasons in Pakistan were changing and winter was fast approaching. Temperatures plummet to sub-zero in these mountainous areas during winter and snow fall is common. Without food supplies, and more importantly, without adequate shelter, Pakistan was on the brink of another major catastrophe.
CONTEXTUAL AWARENESS
When disasters strike, relief agencies are usually under immense pressure to respond urgently but without proper assessment of the situation and little local knowledge, any relief efforts can be counterproductive and often result in chaos.
The 2004 World Disaster report prepared by the Internal Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies (IFRC) argues the importance of a thorough joint assessment of those affected, “especially the socio-economics of the affected communities through actively engaging locally based organisations”, before flooding the disaster areas with ill-prepared personnel and inappropriate aid. For example, earthquakes are usually followed by massive food supplies donated by the international governments and empathetic members of the public. But earthquakes do not do not necessarily create food shortages according to the IFRC 2005 report. Also, the type of food provided can be culturally inappropriate and not suitable to local taste, thus wasting valuable time, money and resources in disposing of this foodstuff without it becoming a health hazard. Moreover, oversupply of foodstuff can have a negative impact on the local economy; affected people become dependent on hand-outs which delays them from taking control of their lives again.
The same scenario applies to donated second-hand clothes. Contrary to common belief, donating used clothing to affected communities can actually hamper relief efforts. Usually, transporting these clothes to the communities is too costly and even though the survivors have suffered immensely, experience shows that offering these people used clothing undermines their sense of pride and self worth.
The ProVention Consortium’s South Asia Earthquake2005 (PC) report illustrates this further: “After the Asian tsunami, Indians sent a mountain of clothing to survivors in Southern India. But the fisher families for whom the clothes were intended refused to accept them. Although they are usually depicted as the poorest of the poor, the 2004 World Disaster report says that they are a relatively prosperous and proud community. Even in such dire circumstances, they would not accept the second-hand clothes. The unwanted clothes were dumped on roadsides, and municipal workers had to be diverted from the relief efforts to gather them up. They also proved a hazard to the local livestock, which tried to eat them.”
Similarly, the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance (ALNAP) 2003 report stresses the importance of local knowledge, “after the 2001 earthquakes in El Salvador, single women insisted that the sheeting provided for temporary shelters be opaque and strong. In the past, it had been translucent making it easy to see when they were alone. Given that it could be easily cut by a machete, many of the women had been raped”. Closer to home, most of the winterised tents donated to Pakistan’s affected areas cannot be used; according to OCHA, approximately 50 per cent of the mountainous terrains will not be suitable for tents. Moreover, winterised tents are too heavy for mules to carry and difficult to put up.
The power of local knowledge cannot be underestimated especially where it could save the lives of many. A strategically planned joint relief effort that relies on locally available resources and materials can be more effective, contextually and culturally more appropriate and it can support these, often, poor economies. However, in earthquake zones, more important than providing food, clothing and blankets is the provision of appropriate types of shelter. A view shared by the World Bank (2005).
SETTLEMENT PATTERNS AND BEHAVIOURS
Before shelter can be discussed, it is important to understand people’s behaviour in such extreme conditions. Survivors are often portrayed as helpless victims too dazed to take care of themselves or anyone around them. This is found to be untrue.
The IFRC’s 2004 World Disaster report documents how the survivors of the Twin Towers fatality in America, September 2001 rushed to save others from under the rubble – with their bare hands if necessary while, in an interview with Alertnet, Adeel Jafferi, media officer for Islamic Relief recounted similar efforts by the survivors in the aftermath of the Pakistan earthquake, “I saw people out of their minds with fear and yet when they saw the need to help people and heard the screams from under buildings, they ran immediately and started helping.”
With respect to settlement behaviour, it is important to note that affected people may not move into temporary shelters. In a press conference in February 2006, Jamie McGoldrick, UN Deputy Humanitarian Aid Coordinator commented that “people didn’t come down from the mountains”. Similarly, the PC 2005 report documents how affected people put up tents next to their property following the Turkey and Bam earthquakes. This shows that despite these ominous times, affected families still prefer to stay close to their homes and protect their surviving household members, possessions and land; often moving in with neighbours, family members or into makeshift accommodation close by. Similarly, after the Asian tsunami, most survivors found shelter with host families, rather than being dependent on aid camps.
In the wake of such disasters, the World Bank (2005) warns of unpredictable mass migration of people. Often, displaced survivors are keen to return home and start over, even if their home is nothing more than a pile of rubble. Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Executive Director of the Non-Governmental Aid Organisation Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy echoed this by her observations in Pakistan during February 2006, “many people had already returned from camps to their blocks of land where they were [seen] living in tents”.
Moreover, an acute awareness of native customs that govern and organise these affected communities is crucial to any relief or rebuilding effort; surviving family members can be better engaged in the rebuilding of their homes and their livelihoods.
Text: Rashid Taqui, images: Luke Powell
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