Damage by Quake!
By the Editor

AN in-depth damage and need assessment report has been released by Pakistan giving some idea of the devastation caused by October-8 earthquake and requirements for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

The preliminary estimates, prepared by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank in coordination with the Government, UN, development partners, and other stakeholders, show that the country would require 5.2 billion dollars to carry out the enormous task of rebuilding.

The extent of the damage and the cost involved clearly shows that Pakistan alone would not be in a position to bear this much additional burden from its limited resources.

Just to give an idea of the task ahead, over two hundred thousand housing units, ten thousand schools and almost all offices have been destroyed and it would require substantial resources and enormous efforts and energy to accomplish the gigantic mission.

And above all, there is absolute urgency to move as fast as possible because there are over 2.8 million people in need of shelter and almost all of them live in areas where temperature is falling everyday and the situation would become more precarious when rain and snowfall begins.

Similarly, building of permanent housing units, schools, hospitals and government offices is also a priority to restore normalcy in the affected areas.

With Pakistan Army atop, diverese civil organizations and segments of the society are doing their best to alleviate sufferings of the affected people but the magnitude of the disaster is simply beyond the capacity of the country to cope with at the desired speed and scale.

Pakistan is already facing financial crunch due to unprecedented increase in the oil prices and trade deficit is entering into dangerous limits.

International community did a lot during rescue phase and is providing substantial assistance during the ongoing relief operations.

We hope that this tempo would be maintained during coming weeks and months and there would be enough commitments on the occasion of October-19 donors conference.

It is all the more significant that the pledges are converted into cash and actionable programmes and projects to expedite the process of reconstruction, if not any thing else, at least to save an innocent generation with vision of love for humanity--atop.● 

 -  Mumtaz Hamid Rao
www.MumtazRao.net