Welcome to Petarian - Abdalian Relief Efforts

Progress Report of Nov12-19, 2005

• The temperatures have fallen substantially in the areas affected by the earthquake. There has been some snowfall on the peaks of the mountains, but the valleys and the foothills are still clear.
• In the meantime, the govt. of Pakistan has stepped up its drive to give Rs. 25,000 per house damaged / destroyed and Rs. 100,000 for each death as compensation. This money is being given out through the army units sitting all over the disaster territory.
• With these two factors - compensation given out and the changing weather - the Kashmiri people have finally decided to reconstruct their own homes. You now find people who were waiting for compensation before their built the homes, now rebuilding the damaged walls and roofs of their homes. This is a welcome change.
• In the meantime, there have been a number of NGOs and agencies that have built a few shelters in various towns and villages. However, this has still not led to any massive construction of shelters to replace the damaged homes. Every organization has come up with its own design. The cost of these shelters ranges from Rs. 15,000 (for plain GI sheet shelters without any insulation) to around Rs. 50,000 for those having a higher quality of materials with insulation and basic amenities. The size of these shelters is between 8' x 10' to 10' x 12'. In other words, it is between 80 to 120 sq.ft. each. Thus depending on the material and quality, the cost works out to between Rs. 200 to 400 per sq.ft.
• The Alternate Energy Development Board (AEDB) located in the Prime Minister's secretariat has also come up with an interesting design. The key man in AEDB is Brig. Nasim Akhtar Khan, kit no. 533/Qasim House. They have developed a model home that is energy efficient and is heated by solar energy. Thus, even in very cold climate, it keeps the rooms warm and pleasant. A few samples of these have been placed at the National Library behind the PM Secretariat. They have a small home with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen covering an area of over 300 sqft selling for around Rs. 150,000. This works out to be a little under Rs. 500 per sqft. The advantage here is that the home is heated and they do not have to rely as much on kerosene heaters.
• Despite all these prototypes that have been presented through the media and to the government, there has still not been a major move yet to construct such shelters.
• The major roads have all been opened now. Even the access to Neelam Valley is now open.
• The reports show that relief has been provided to most of the areas that have been affected. It is only the very remote mountain tops or valleys that may not have been reached.
• The affected population does not need as many tents any more. With the approaching winter, what they now need is shelters and not tents. Or they must reconstruct their crude homes, which they have now started in earnest.
  
  Bearing all these in mind, the Petarian-Abdalian relief efforts have been channelized as follows:
  
• Our teams have been back in Rerah for over a week now.
• Immediate Relief: We have continued to provide relief goods where necessary. Our main stock of relief goods is in Islamabad, and we are sending out the relief items to those areas where there are the most needy. A group of Abdalians are now poised to take a couple of truck loads of goods (food, tents, etc) from our warehouse in Islamabad to a remote village near Muzaffarabad. These goods will move shortly. The team effort is led by Capt. Nayyar Islam, Secretary General of Abdalian Association. We are also moving some more relief goods into the Rerah area to cater to those people who still have needs. In addition, we have had requests from other smaller areas where we have been sending the goods in our possession. We have received a further 100 tents from Discover Islam and we procured another 200 tents for this purpose. We also have some comforters and other goods that we are distributing in these areas.
• Medical Facilities: Our medical camp at Rerah had been a great success and our doctors had treated thousands of patients during the initial few weeks. The needs have now changed vastly. In this regard, we have now had to adjust our work to suit the needs of the area
  Prior to the earthquake, the Mahl Valley with Rerah as its commercial hub had a very inadequate health care system. A number of basic healthcare units were constructed at different villages which were manned by a medical technician / compounder / vaccinator and women health workers. There was no doctor in the entire valley. The patients needing proper medical treatment would have to travel to Bagh which had the nearest proper hospital.