Report on the reconstruction efforts in the earthquake affected areas in Pakistan by Carey Schofield

Ms. Schofield is a scholar working on Pakistan. She is a friend of Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani

Lt General Nadeem (ERRA) yesterday flew (literally; he is a helicopter pilot) a foreign International Development official (whom General Nadeem introduced as 'a Thorn in My Side'), a colleague from ERRA and me to the earthquake-affected area. We flew to Baag, Muzaffarabad, up to Chukhoti near the Friendship Bridge on the Line of Control, over other towns and villages including Mansehra and Abbotabad and into the NWFP. Clouds, rain and poor visibility prevented us going as far as the General had hoped into NWFP. but we nevertheless flew over almost all of the areas in Pakistan that were affected by last year's earthquake.

We visited two hospitals, and inspected the foundations of schools and other buildings that were being put up. The hospitals were functioning effectively. The staff at the first hospital asked for better pathology facilities and some other support. The prefabricated buildings are not perfect, but they are clean (although the laundry facilities are inadequate)  and the hospital seems to be well run and functioning effectively. Despite the hardship, the hospital compared very favourably with those I have visited in other rural areas. About nine doctors and one nurse from other countries are working there. An entirely new hospital is being built that will provide incomparably better medical facilities than those that existed before the earthquake.

The second hospital was operating out of a mixture of slightly scruffier prefabricated buildings and a row of aircraft hangars. General Nadeem was critical of the condition of the tent buildings that were being used as offices and wards, and concerned about the erratic electricity supply . He undertook to supply better generation facilities.

Both hospitals seem to be providing regular health maintenance services (innoculations, family planning and so on) as well as medical treatment and carrying out surgical procedures. Although the number of directly earthquake-related  cases is diminishing, the doctors we saw stressed that some patients would need extra care for some years. Some earthquake survivors were suffering from trauma-induced mental illness, and the new hospitals that were being built would provide help for these people.

Throughout the earthquake-affected area newly-constructed houses and other buildings (each recognisable by  its shiny roof) litter the hillsides. We flew low over much of the terrain and saw vast areas of crops (mainly corn) almost ready for harvest. Ruined buildings and piles of rubble are still to be seen, but we did not see large numbers of unreconstructed damaged buildings. Everywhere we went there were signs of apparently high quality reconstruction. 

General Nadeem took a keen interest in the precise construction of new school premises, and questioned the builders closely about pillars and bolts and lintels and supports. He seemed to be satisfied with what he saw and was told.

Despite Pakistani media reports about the inadequacy of the reconstruction effort, it seemed to me that colossal strides had been made since I visited the area in late October last year. We saw only one tent encampment, which appeared to be uninhabited. It was clearly very newly established, and we were told that it had been set up in case it were to be needed by monsoon flood victims. In other areas tents were being used as stores and as daytime shelter for workers. But we did not see any evidence of large numbers of people living in tents.

I was impressed by what I saw, but initially cautious, since I am not a development expert. But I was heartened by a private discussion with the Thorn (who has a fine Muslim name but has spent most of his life abroad and is of largely ethnic Anglo-Saxon descent), who drove me back to my hotel after the trip. He is clearly a tough nut,  accountable to his government for every penny of its taxpayer's money that he makes available in these parts. He said that he was surprised by what we had seen. The reconstruction effort, he said, was at a stage that he would have expected it to reach by the summer of 2007.

August 24, 2006