Chitral disasters and earthquake recovery

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Plight of the Calamity Hit people of Chitral
Introduction
Chitral a district of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Province of Pakistan, having a total area of 14850
sq.km and population of about half a million is prone ,throughout the year, to varying intensity
natural hazards including flash flooding, Glacial lakes Outburst floods (GLOFs), Land slides,
avalanches, heavy snow fall and Earthquakes. The following table illustrates the occurrences to
which Chitral is prone to, throughout the year. The given illustration reveals the fact that
Chitralis-perhaps the sons of lesser god-live in an atmosphere of perpetual fear, just waiting and
thinking as how to evacuate themselves in case of any emergency which could happen any time,
any moment.
Sr.N
0
Natural
Hazard
Occurrences
Jan Feb
Marc
h
Apri
l
Ma
y June July Aug
Sep
t
Oc
t
No
v
De
c
1
Flash
Floods
Entire district is
vulnerable to Flash
Floods during these
months
2
Avalanche
s
About 50% population
at Risk of Avalanches
3 Floods
Areas along rivers
and streams at risk
(undercutting/erosio
n)
4 GLOFs Every village at risk
5
Land
Slides Every village and Road Infrastructure at Risk
6 Snow
Mud-
bricks
constructe
d houses
at Risk
7
Earthqua
ke Entire District is Vulnerable
Figure 01: Hazard Calendar in Chitral (Source: PDMA-PaRRSA Assessment Report)
The Inhabitants including 69% Sunni Muslims, 31% Ismaili Muslims and about 2000
households of Ancient Kalash Community have been facing “the wrath of nature” in form of all
the above calamities since 2010, when flood destroyed hundreds of households. Since then the
frequency of the occurrences have increased and in 2015 many people have lost their precious
lives in addition to losses to properties on high scale due to flood in the last two weeks of July
and the high magnitude Earthquake on December 26,2015.Government Agencies and dozens of
NGOs reached the people in the aftermath of both the calamities were successful in providing
emergency relief to a certain extent, but their rescue and relief rhetoric seems more eloquent in
media than on ground. Moreover, criminal silence about rehabilitation and restoration on part
of the stakeholders is a concern for the affectees and must be one for international community
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and the other stakeholders. Suffering people shivering in tents in freezing temperature with
piled up relief items by their side look towards a messiah, who could give them shelters which
may inhibit the harsh temperature from piercing the fragile bodies of their infants and aged. It is
said that God help those who help themselves, but helping those who can’t help themselves is
more noble in the sight of God.
I am writing the following lines in order to bring the plight of the calamity hit people of Chitral
into the notice of the global community with the hope that it may help the privileged, if there are
any, to extend their assistance to the less-privileged, who are living under abject conditions after
the calamities of 2015.
The following lines presents a look the two high intensity destructions which Chitral witnessed
during 2015 and the response by different stakeholders followed by some suggestion which may
be helpful in rehabilitating the affectees.
CHITRAL flood JULY 2015
During the third and fourth weeks of July 2015, different parts of Chitral were hit by Glacial
Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) which resulted in highly destructive torrents and flash floods
washing away anything on its way. Villages, Roads, Bridges, water supply installations, power
houses, livestock, privates business, Schools, Mosques, Jamat Khanas were destroyed. Besides
destroying agricultural lands the whole process left 293 houses fully damaged and 154 partially
in Lower Chitral and another 510 houses were fully damaged and 529 were partially damaged in
Upper Chitral
1
. Whereas, 6 and 29 people lost their lives in lower and upper chitral respectively.
Snapshot of Sectoral based damages and the required fund for recovery is given in the following
table. The information is taken from government sources except serial number 13, which has no
mention in the report published by the concerned Govt Agency.
S.N
o
Sector Full/Partial damages Fund Require
for recovery in
PKR
Fund Required
for Recovery in
USD
01 Education 30 Schools 177 million
02 Housing 1486 Houses 129.92 million
03 Road 29 km 4289 million
combined
04 Bridges 48 bridges
05 Water Supply Schemes 154 schemes 331.76 million
06 Power Houses 10 power Houses 1300 million
07 Standing Crops 3225 acres washed
away 1847.59 million
combined
08 Ruminants (Cows, goats) 5116 perished
09 Sheds 548 destroyed
10 Irrigation Channels 81 channels destroyed
11 Non-Farming Livelihood 44 shops, 8 hotels
12 Mosques 07
13 Jamat Khanas 05
Fig 02: Chitral Flood 2015: Recovery needs assessment and Action framework (PDMA, KPK Dec
2015)
1SRSP, Chitral Flood Damages 2015
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The effectiveness of government response to this calamity is evident from the fact that the
Government announced financial relief were not provided to the effectees till the time when
another calamity in form of October 2015 Earthquake hit Chitral. During his visit to Chitral in
the aftermath of the earthquake the Prime Minsiter took notice of the delay in providing the
announced amount of USD 1908.57 to the owner of the perished house that the administration
woke from slumber and expedited the process of giving the cheques.
NGOs like FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance and Al-Khedmat Foundation were seen in
providing relief to the affectees. However, till date the affectees are living in tents with an added
sorrow gained from the earthquake, happened 3 months later.
The local people and Volunteers also took part and rendered valuable services in relief and
rescue operations. Thanks to the sense of voluntarism which do not lack in the people of this
under-privileged part of the world.
Chitral Earthquake October 2015
On Monday October 26, 2015 an earthquake of 7.5 magnitude on Richter scale with epicenter in
Hindu Kush with approximately 210 km below the Hindu Kush range near North-eastern
Afghanistan struck areas of Pakistan. The Meteorological Department of Pakistan reported
about 120 aftershocks of varying magnitude felt across Pakistan but more intensive in KPk (13
districts)of Pakistan especially Chitral District. In the process 188 lives were lost and 1138 were
injured in KPk province
2
.
The earthquake played havoc in the area including irreparable loss to lives, destroying
residential houses, farmland and livestock, Government buildings, water supply and irrigation
schemes, Roads and bridges and energy infrastructures. Based on the sector wise need based
recovery assessment of KPk government, the government needs 317.97 USD during the coming
two years for recovery of the affected areas from the earthquake.
Sector wise distribution of recovery needs as identified by the KPk government is as follows
Sector Cost in Millions USD Needed (within 2 years)
Rehabilitation of Physical Infrastructure 224.91
Hosing Reconstruction 53.9
Reactivating and strengthening Local Economy 24.83
DRR and environment Recovery 13.12
Management Mechanism 1.21
Total 317.97
Fig 03: 2015 Earthquake recovery Plan, KPk Government December 10, 2015
The earthquake and aftershock were severely felt in many districts of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa
(KPk) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB); however, the intensity in Chitral was extraordinary because of
its close proximity to the Hidukush range, says, the KPk government
3
. The government is right
in reporting the intensity of the destruction in Chitral but miserably fails to identify the number
2 2015 Earthquake recovery Plan, KPK Government December 10, 2015
3 Ibid, Pp. 09,
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of fully and partially damaged houses of the poor affectees. This lethargy is perhaps because of
giving itself relief from the burden of compensation which it is going to pay for the fully and
partially damaged hoses or due to the apathy involved in the survey conducted by government
officials. It is pertinent to note here that the government has announced compensation package
for the earthquake victims, viz; USD 5725.72, USD 1908.57 and USD 954.29 each for a deceased,
fully damaged and partially damaged houses respectively. An additional amount of USD 1908.57
has been declared to be the right of those who may have lost his/her leg or limb.
Even the survey of the affectees conducted by the NGOs is not accurate. There have been even
public agitations against the survey conducted by the an organization as prestigious as FOCUS
Humanitarian Assistance , Pakistan.
The report published by Provincial Disaster Management Authority-PaRRSA on December 07,
2015 shows 3378 fully damaged and 15921 partially damaged houses in Chitral. The same report
identifies 33 death and 200 injured. This is ridiculous, one can agree with the report as far as the
statistic about the fully damaged houses and human losses are concerned , but the figure about
partially damaged houses is far from truth. 90% of the houses are partially damaged, in form of
cracks in walls, having 2 to 5 inches separation of wall from each other, which the government is
not ready to consider. The survey has not taken into consideration such damages. I personally
know poor people, who came to me to write application for them addressing the government
authorities to include their names in the partially damaged list, but no one paid any heed to
their grievances.
A 75 years old widow from my village, who survived from the earthquake when the villagers
came to rescue her under the debris of the razed boundary wall of her mud-constructed house
came to me to accompany her to the administration office to get relief items for her, she
couldn’t kept pace with me on walk to Administration office. Unable to walk properly due to
pain in her legs and back, because of surviving under the razed wall, she reached the office in an
hour, which otherwise is a distance of about 5 minutes. This widow never got any relief despite
of her feeble struggles. This is the situation of poor affectees living in the administrative
headquarters, what to say of those living miles away from it.
The following table illustrates the sector based costs in USD for rehabilitation in Chitral as
identified by the Provincial Governments Report. The report takes into account partially and
fully damaged infrastructure but do not gives any figure as to the cost of reconstruction and
rehabilitation of damaged houses. However, data on Rehabilitation and Reconstruction cost on
damaged houses could be provided to interested organizations and individuals who may want to
involve in any way in reconstruction and rehabilitation process.
S.No sector Cost in Millions in USD
1 Public Adminsitration Buildings 0.863
2 Health Building 0.230
3 School Buildings 22.379
4 Water Supply Schemes 1.040
5 Road and Bridges 2.717
6 Irrigation Schemes 2.003
7 Energy Sector 1.92
Total 31.152
Fig 4: Source, 2015 earthquake Recovery Plan KPK government December 10, 2015
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[kmaherali]

There is a related thread about past natural disasters in Chitral and other places at:


NATURAL DISASTERS
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