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Social Entrepreneurs on the Frontlines of the Kashmir Earthquake
By Nir Tsuk with reports from Ashoka Fellows
Social entrepreneurs including Ashoka Fellows were among the first to respond to the Kashmir earthquake. They are creating one of the most
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Photo © Anshu Gupta
Devastation from the 2001 Gujarat earthquake
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effective disaster recovery programs now operating on the ground by building a cooperative network that links their local grassroots networks throughout the region with national and international relief and redevelopment programs of businesses and government organizations.
This multilevel response to disaster has evolved during recent calamities including the Indian Ocean tsunami and earthquakes in Turkey and India. It provides an agile response that supplies reliable, professionally-structured and timely support to survivors.
These social entrepreneurs emphasize local needs and customs. They view disaster response as an opportunity to create badly needed systemic changes, while synchronizing with other relief operations.
In the short run, they focus their efforts on directly assisting highly vulnerable groups such as orphans and the disabled, while mapping their needs and helping them to help themselves. The long run goal is to crystallize a settlement and housing plan as part of a larger Ashoka disaster mitigation program.
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Leading social entrepreneurs are helping scattered communities in remote regions get assistance by linking them to government and aid agencies through a newly formed Ashoka Network for Disaster Preparedness and Response (ANDIPAR). Ashoka Fellows, with the help of Ashoka Representative Fazel Noor in Pakistan, are beginning to establish institutional mechanisms to strengthen self-help in scattered, remote communities, connecting them to external assistance. See the plans of Ashoka Fellows Abdul Waheed and Shaukat Sharar below, and what you can do to help.
At the same time, Ashoka Fellows in India—including Anshu Gupta and his organization Goonj; Mihir Bhatt and his Disaster Mitigation Institute; and ANDIPAR—have been active in India's Kashmir region. They are pulling together people and resources, including volunteers and relevant organizations and business, to provide much needed supplies and logistical support that will meet the needs of survivors.
Mahasti and Rick Mashoons, both long-time supporters of Ashoka in Pakistan, have very generously donated $50,000 to support the relief and rehabilitation efforts of Ashoka Fellows. OPEN, an organization that focuses on promoting entrepreneurship among Pakistani-Americans, is also providing support.
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Massive Devastation—Suffering is Growing
An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit the northern regions of Pakistan and Kashmir on the morning of October 8th with more force than any other earthquake that has affected the region in the past 100 years. It caused massive structural damage, up to 100,000 deaths, a half million injuries, and left more than 3 million people homeless, according to Ashoka Fellow Abdul Waheed. A large number of children were at school when the earthquake occurred and they are reported to form the majority of casualties.
Photo © Anshu Gupta
Devastation from the 2001 Gujarat earthquake
An estimated 25 percent of housing units in an area with a population of 107,000 have been completely destroyed and require immediate attention. The housing and livelihoods of many more survivors have suffered and they require assistance to counter the coming winter.
The rice crop cannot be fully harvested, livestock have died, and firewood and fodder collected for winter lies buried beneath the rubble. Unless wheat harvesting is supported and livestock replaced in time, many of the survivors face hunger and malnutrition.
Without adequate housing, many may not survive the winter. And there is environmental damage: forests may suffer large-scale damage as people cut trees for construction and firewood.
"In some of the areas, the snowfall usually starts in the third or fourth week of November," Waheed said. "It is feared that the death toll might rise among those homeless people in this extreme weather, which the UN terms as a disaster within the disaster."
Many of the survivors have suffered fractures and temporary illnesses but now face permanent disability because of unsanitary and unhygienic conditions and a scarcity rehabilitation services. Relief agencies have brought in doctors and medicines, but related items like bed linens and scrubs, are in short supply and proper disposal of waste has not yet been arranged.
Medical facilities in the cities of Islamabad and Abbotabad are insufficient to handle the large number of cases that require immediate attention. As a result, patients are treated and discharged without adequate postoperative care. There are several camps where patients can receive care after they are discharged but they cannot handle all the discharged patients. As a result, many are finding themselves on the street after discharge without shelter and rehabilitation services.
In many places people are fighting among each other and hoarding instead of sharing the relief goods. The mentality of "survival of the fittest" is forcing the weak to the periphery. Most vulnerable are survivors who are orphans; women without family support; families without a wage earner; the handicapped; and the homeless, especially those who are landless and living in makeshift shelters. Their health and security is a major concern, and therefore they must be quickly identified and registered to allow close monitoring.
Photo © Anshu Gupta
Survivors of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake
Many of the orphans, single women, and handicapped are living with their relatives and some are living in camps. These people are most vulnerable to malnutrition, sexual exploitation, and even to being "disposed off" at convenience. There are reports that children are being kidnapped and sold in order to force them into prostitution.
Connecting & Empowering Local Residents
Provincial and local government organizations, including the police, have been largely ineffective and have lacked institutional arrangements to deal with disasters. Recently elected local government officials have required time to establish themselves, although now they are taking charge with alacrity.
Unfortunately, Pakistan's federal government has been making policy decisions based on principles of "providing" rather than "enabling" which encourages a "beggar" mentality. This springs from the misconception that most of the local inhabitants are incapable of making good decisions or taking rational action, and that the government can resolve all issues. The federal government's relief and rehabilitation process makes little reference to using or strengthening the provincial government and the local government institutional framework.
Outside government and relief agencies had difficulty accessing the remote, mountainous regions where the earthquake was centered. Beyond the logistical challenges, major obstacles to providing disaster relief include tribal attitudes toward outsiders.
Photo © Anshu Gupta
Devastation from the 2001 Gujarat earthquake
The government regards this region as a frontier territory administered by the local tribal council, which had imposed a ban on interventions by outside citizen sector organization. It had threatened villagers with fines of up to Rs.20,000 if they worked with outside organizations.
After the disaster struck, local inhabitants were desparate for help from outside organizations, but these organizations lacked local partners to work with. Waheed's organization, the Bright Education Society, has a long-standing working relationship with local inhabitants that has provided a gateway for citizen sector organizations to interact with tribal councils. In the long run, Waheed sees this as an opportunity to transform the region's society and to better integrate the frontier region into the NWFP's political economy.
Social Entrepreneurs: Good Connections,
Swift Response
Because the priority is providing effective relief on a large scale, Ashoka Fellows in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP)—Abdul Waheed, Shaukat Sharar, and Mohammad Ali, plus Ashoka's Pakistan office and Ashoka International—are collaborating on rescue and relief work that enables local leaders to access resources and expertise in Pakistan and India. Both Waheed and Sharar have directly contributed to government and international relief operations in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, helping to channel relief to remote regions.
Waheed is taking the lead. His home village lies in the mountainous area of the NWFP that stretches from Battagram to Shangla and contains more than 3,000 villages scattered among the hills. His organization, the Bright Education Society (BES), was founded in 1996 to improve education in low-income neighborhoods.
The morning after the disaster hit, Waheed immediately dispatched a 100-person volunteer team from BES that delivered relief supplies before other relief teams from the government or other citizen sector agencies arrived in the area. In areas where road links were cut, BES volunteers ferried supplies across water ways to gain access.
Photo © Anshu Gupta
Devastation from the 2001 Gujarat earthquake
These volunteers transported relief goods worth Rs.2.7 million to survivors. They provided first aid to more than 3,000 injured survivors and assisted with 50 burials in more than 100 affected villages of the Shangla, Batgram, and Mansehra districts.
Shaukat Sharar moved quickly to start guiding volunteers and assessing with emergency shelter needs. He is an architect who has spent more than ten years doing design and construction work experience in the NWFP, especially in Swat, the area most severely affected by the earthquake. Sharar prepared reconstruction designs for the damaged areas and is piloting a cost effective and appropriate design of tents from locally available materials.
Moving to the Next Phase
By now, Waheed and Sharar have completed the first phase of relief work: providing food items, medicine, tents, blankets, and clothing in the Shangla District and the Frontier region of Kala Dhaka. They are embarking on providing locally built weatherproof tents and goats for milking to help the local inhabitants survive the coming winter, while mobilizing resources from OXFAM, UNICEF, CRS, Rotary Clubs, and other philanthropic organizations.
By November 15, Waheed plans to open an office in Mansehra and begin identifying the rehabilitation needs of 5,000 affected families in the region. Rehabilitation will include reconstruction of houses, and providing tents, goats, and farm implements to help the families regain their housing and livelihood.
Sharar has prepared plans to construct and renovate housing. He is creating an information and coordination system—in close partnership with the local government, and international and local citizen sector organizations—that actively involves the local leadership in the relief and rehabilitation activities. He is establishing a coordination office for these activities in Besham. He is digitizing the available maps and setting up a mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) center. It will support, coordinate, and link the relief and rehabilitation efforts of the district and provincial governments and the various local and international citizen sector organizations.
By mid-November, Mohammad Ali plans to investigate how to help 8,000 families recover, focusing on collaboration with government organizations and carrying out surveys to identify orphans, handicapped persons, and children in distress. Ali is working with provincial and district governments to help families with children secure adequate shelter for the winter, and then reconstruct their houses when the winter is over.
He is also pursuing trauma treatment for survivors so they can begin taking control of their lives. Left untreated, psychological disorders and shock from the disaster may create permanent psychological problems.
The Shelter Situation: Dire
More than 3.6 million persons live in half a million housing units in the Shangla, Batagram and Mansehra regions, according to Sharar. About 250,000 units in the region are estimated to be dangerous to inhabit. Some 50,000 of these units are either destroyed or severely damaged. Utilities, particularly plumbing, have been damaged in many cases. Wiring has also been damaged where walls have collapsed and cracked.
Balakot city is reduced to rubble and the ruins stretch northwest to Kawai and southeast to Bassian. The earthquake has affected the entire Batagram district. More than 350,000 people in Batagram are affected with an estimated 38,000 damaged housing units, 7,000 of which are severely damaged.
The government has requested residents of Allai tehsil to evacuate to lower areas, but the people are refusing to do so. Landslides have destroyed entire villages in the zone between Chanjal and Serakul. Maira is totally ruined. In areas of Shangla, 60 to 70 percent of the housing is badly damaged.
Photo © Anshu Gupta
Devastation from the 2001 Gujarat earthquake
The majority of concrete structures at the center of the disaster (the Balakot region) were not designed to withstand such a strong earthquake and they collapsed completely. Reconstruction is not possible in this area without clearing the rubble and providing access to the heavy machinery for clearing. The entire city needs to be redesigned.
Some houses were built with columns and beams but these were not properly joined to the frame. These structures could not bear the shocks and collapsed, killing and seriously injuring hundreds of thousands of people.
Many people are afraid to sleep inside their houses because of aftershocks—even though their houses have not suffered from the shocks. Similarly, many residents of buildings that need repairs are not repairing them for fear of being injured during construction activities.
Wooden post and beam structures survived the earthquake in adjacent and secondary zones. In almost all cases, roofs did not collapse because the wooden post and beam held it up. Much of the wooden structure, if properly extracted, may be reused.
But the shocks have weakened the post-beam joints and the stabilized earth roofing has broken up at various places. Such structures were heavily damaged where walls were shared with another dwelling or were common to more than one room.
Concrete masonry structures without a frame structure have been badly damaged. In many cases, the walls have collapsed and in other cases there are irreparable cracks. Collapsed walls have lead to the collapse of roofs and this has resulted in deaths and serious injuries to occupants.
Reinforced cement concrete frame structures are designed for earthquakes up to 6.0 on the Richter scale, at best. The majority of the frame structures in the adjacent and secondary zones did not follow the required seismic standards. These structures were not tied together at the foundation nor plinth level, and in many cases the beams also lacked stable joints with the column.
Most of these structures relied on masonry to support the roof. When the masonary collapsed, the columns slid and were bent and/or distorted. Such structures with concrete roofs fell, killing many. Although these structures must be completely rebuilt, much of the woodwork and iron can be salvaged. Frame structures without foundation and plinth beams should be demolished and built anew.
The poorest people are living in shelters with stabilized earth walls and roofing. Wooden beams and a roof frame support the stabilized earth roofing at the walls. These should be replaced with structures made from lightweight masonry—local production of hollow blocks and bricks should be encouraged—with lightweight roofs (possibly tin) and insulation. Walls of individual houses should be independent of each other and located at a sufficient distance so that neighbors are not injured when a roof collapses.
Needed: Sturdy Shelter for the Winter
Technical Assistance to Rebuild Safely
Thousands of people are living in temporary makeshift shelters—wooden poles with blankets covering insulation made of plastic sheets and/or matting. These people are both landless and lacking shelter. Rather than move to the government camps they have decided to stay nearby their homes.
Photo © Anshu Gupta
Survivors of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake
The United Nations estimates that 210,000 tents are required in addition to the 316,000 already provided or on the way. In many cases, people require sturdy tents that will give them time to rebuild their houses for the coming winter. But the majority of the relief program is not directed at helping people rebuild. Instead, tents are provided as temporary shelter for the winter with the goal of helping them reconstruct after the winter is over.
In any case, many of the tents that have been delivered are not adequate for the winter and lack waterproofing and insulation. The cost of weatherproof tents is high, they are not easily available, and will not be useful after the winter has ended.
Providing tents is a "give away" that does not involve people in making choices and therefore strengthens the "beggar" mentality. It would be better to design and make tents locally.
It appears that many of the standing structures can be repaired, but careful investigation shows that repairs may not work given the scale and frequency of aftershocks. In addition, partially collapsed and cracked buildings are psychologically unacceptable to residents who now prefer to live in tents and makeshift arrangements.
Site checks show that reconstruction is possible in most of Mansehra, in the Batagram and Besham tehsils, and in the Kala Dhaka frontier region. People in the upper reaches of Shangla and Allai have buried their dead and are already constructing houses from stabilized earth and wooden posts in the traditional way. All these people require technical advice, skilled labor support, and temporary shelter to secure their families.
But most people lack access to the technical advice that would help them assess their existing structures and plan for reconstruction. Many people have invested their life savings in housing and rebuilding means they must raise additional funds. Because the earthquake has shattered many people's ability to earn a livelihood, they need financial aid to reconstruct.
Livelihoods Damaged and Destroyed
People have lost the ability to make a living where shops and places of business have been disrupted or destroyed, livestock and business assets have been destroyed, and where people need all their energy to care for their families so that they do not have time to go to work—especially daily wage and seasonal laborers and farmers who have lost the opportunity to migrate and earn for the season. Rebuilding assistance is needed, especially for shopkeepers.
Livestock provided milk—a major source of nutrition—and were the main assets of the poor. Livestock deaths spell disaster for many of the surviving households. As winter descends, lack of shelter for livestock may mean less productivity for livestock and even death.
To get people back on their feet, livestock—especially milk animals—that have been killed or injured must be replaced, trading and business inventories must be salvaged or replaced to restart businesses, and farming implements and assistance must be provided for winter crops.
Photo © Anshu Gupta
Devastation from the 2001 Gujarat earthquake
Farming assistance is linked to food security. Failure to produce milk and wheat, the major staple foods, will leave families without food for all of next year, and this will jeopardize their ability to regain production next year. Small and landless farmers who had saved portions of their crops to survive the winter will need help to sow wheat for the coming year.
Most severely affected are households where the main income earner has died or has become permanently disabled. Many people have lost their limbs and have become incapable of leading a normal life. These include mothers, income earners, and other caregivers whose loss affects many more.
Other groups that have emerged as most vulnerable are: orphans; women without family support; families without any wage earners; the handicapped; and the homeless, especially those who are landless and living in makeshift shelters. Many of the orphans, single women, and handicapped are living with their relatives and some are living in camps.
These people are most vulnerable to malnutrition, sexual exploitation, and even to being "disposed off" at convenience. Their health and security is a major concern, and therefore they must be quickly identified and registered to allow close monitoring.
Credible citizen sector organizations must establish partnerships with local governments and security organizations to protect and care for the most vulnerable populations, including orphans; women without family support; families without a wage earner; the handicapped; and the homeless, especially those who are landless and living in makeshift shelters. The following responses are needed:
- Construction of orphanages and homes for women without family support.
- Income earning and food security programs for families without wage earners. Rations, clothing, and blankets are needed to sustain families without income earners. In the longer run, those with the potential to earn an income should be trained and provided with secure income earning opportunities. These resources are also needed by families with unemployed daily wage and short-term seasonal workers.
- Rehabilitation programs for the handicapped and their families. Rehabilitation services that are close to medical care centers are required for the seriously injured and their families. Rehabilitation services should cover both living and medical costs. At this stage, care should include trauma treatment to help patients return to a normal life.
- Shelter programs for the homeless. The homeless who are landless and living in makeshift shelters should be given priority for shelter construction. At the community level, they should be enabled to acquire permanent rights to a home so that investments in shelter construction are not wasted.
Disaster Response:
Waheed's Bright Education Society
Ashoka Fellow Abdul Waheed's organization, the Bright Education Society (BES), has collected in-kind aid from the citizens of Karachi and donations from Karachi businesses, industrialists, and philanthropists totaling Rs.2.8 million (US$47,000) to provide medicine, food, blankets, quilts, and tents to earthquake survivors.
Following this immediate phase of rescue and relief, BES plans to rehabilitate the large population that was totally devastated by this calamity. It views this rehabilitation process as a way to empower the local community through its interaction with other citizen sector organizations.
BES has identified some 30 villages in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province that are completely destroyed. BES has the following plans for the inhabitants of these villages:
Food Security and Income Generation
- To restore the agriculture-based economy, BES plans to replace livestock destroyed in the earthquake and establish enterprises that provide farming services free of charge for the following year. To support farming, BES will purchase two tractors fitted with farm implements to help with wheat sowing. This assistance will be made available by the end of November together with grants for seed and fertilizer. BES plans to revive more than 5,000 fields by supplying seeds, fertilizer, and tractors. These resources are required to put the community back on its feet rather than relying solely on help from government and citizen sector organizations. BES will provide Rs.3000 to each household to provide the basic requirements for a new crop.
- Supplying food for children is a major and immediate problem during this rehabilitation phase. There are reports of desperate parents selling their children to gangs who are involved in human trafficking because they cannot feed their children. To address this issue, BES proposes to provide a goat to each household. BES estimates that one goat per affected family will help meet the basic nutrition requirements, especially for children. This will be an estimated 5,000 goats for 5,000 households at a cost of Rs.4,800 per family. Goats will be purchased in batches of 1,000 and after vaccination will be provided to families with dry fodder for the winter. BES expects to raise the cost of 1,000 goats every two weeks in order to complete distribution within five weeks.
Housing Reconstruction
In November, BES will facilitate relief organizations' distribution of tents. It will help them produce surveys and designs for permanent housing in the following months. Toward the end of winter, BES will mobilize people to participate in housing reconstruction and resettlement where required.
Education and Health Services
- During this phase, BES proposes to lay the foundation for development of education and health services. BES is planning to open 15 tent schools because most of the school buildings in these areas are either totally destroyed or badly damaged. The estimated annual expenditure per school will be about Rs.150,000.
- BES plans to establish 30 tent hospitals in these 30 villages to provide medical facilities on a sustainable basis. The annual expenditure per hospital will be about Rs.400,000.
Facilitaties Services
- BES will establish office and yard storage at Thakot to help facilitate and coordinate relief activities in the Bassi Khel area. The office will facilitate housing construction and delivery of relief goods and support the administration of the Food Security and Livelihood project. The office will also have information and mapping systems that enable coordination of relief activities in the Mansehra and Battagram districts. The office will provide accommodations for volunteers and relief workers.
With winter season already started, we need this help immediately—i.e., within next three to four weeks. Different international relief agencies including the United Nations have expressed their worst fears of an increasing death toll if the victims are not given instant relief.
We therefore request your immediate help to jointly tackle this great catastrophe and assist people in rebuilding their lives. Your generous donations will go a long way towards saving the lives of thousands of the victims of this killer earthquake. Kindly covey this message to as many people in your circle as possible because these victims are in desperate need.
Please send your donations to the following bank account:
Name of the Account: Bright Education Society
Account Number: 1744-3
Name of the Bank: Bank of Khyber Pakistan
Branch: SITE Branch Karachi Pakistan
Code Number: 28
Swift Code: KHYBPKKA
Income Tax Exemption No. CIT/COS-V/SO/1/2005-05/2179
Those interested in visiting our program can also contact us at the following address:
Bright Educational Society Relief Support Program Member
Mr. Abdul Waheed Khan
Mr. Syed Latif
Mr. Amjad Hussain
Naunehal Academy
1114/1115
Qasba Islamia Colony No. 1
Union Council No. 9
SITE Town Karachi. Pakistan.
Postal Code. 75800
Tel: 092-21-6658999 or 092-21-6008742
Cell: 092-300-9251836 or 092-300-2107967
We hope to get a positive reply at your earliest convenience.
Email: waheedbes@yahoo.co.uk
Abdul_waheed_bes@hotmail.com
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