Rebuilding for a better future: translating a strategy into beneficiaries’ resolve
June 22, 2007 - In the earthquake devastated northern region of Pakistan, constituting nine districts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the State of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), a culture of seismic resistant construction is taking root. Owner-driven reconstruction of nearly 300,000 of the approximately 575,000 houses destroyed/damaged in the earthquake affected rural areas has begun and is at various stages of completion. This reconstruction is supported through housing reconstruction grants from the Pakistan government – a program partly financed by the World Bank through the Emergency Recovery Project (ERP).
Most of the beneficiaries are following the recommended seismic resistant construction standards. Achieving this success has required reaching out to the affected communities to convince and train them to construct differently from the ways they knew earlier.
The World Bank’s project leader, Raja Rehan Arshad said that, “the real challenge … is to successfully utilize the owner-driven reconstruction approach, not only to reconstruct houses to seismic resistant construction standards in the immediate run, but, in the longer term, to promote a culture of voluntary seismic compliance in an extremely high seismic risk zone”.
Upcoming: Feature story on rebuilding livelihoods in earthquake-affected areas.
Pakistan Emergency Earthquake Recovery Project
The Challenge
The October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan destroyed or damaged around 575,000 rural houses, leaving more than 73,000 dead, and rendering over 3 million people without shelter. The consensus after the relief work was that poor quality of building construction killed more people than the earthquake itself – a natural hazard converted into a man-made disaster.
An easy solution would have been to provide visible and immediate relief in the face of unrelenting public demand to see results, through supply-driven solutions. However, past experiences with disasters of this nature have shown that a housing reconstruction program executed in such a manner would have resulted in more problems over time. It would have provided for little beneficiary ownership and involvement in the reconstruction process.
The Impact
More than half (300,000) of the rural housing program beneficiaries have started to rebuild their homes. The number is an unprecedented 6-8 times higher than first year responses in other recent post-disaster housing programs.
The current trend indicates that more than 80% of such beneficiaries are adhering to the seismic resistant construction standards developed by the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority. This is manifested by the fact that around 200,000 beneficiaries have or will very soon be passing the first floor-level inspections of their houses. More than 20,000 are nearing completion of their houses to seismic resistant construction standards.
The Approach
The Government of Pakistan, with financing from the World Bank and other sources, is executing the rural housing program. The approach to this program is centered on 5 main strategic pillars including:
• Owner-driven housing reconstruction: homeowners made in charge of rebuilding their own homes;
• Sustainability: training and sensitization of more than 100,000 beneficiaries and construction artisans on seismic resistant construction techniques;
• Uniformity and Outreach: ensuring uniform assistance packages across the earthquake affected region and maximizing program outreach;
• Inequities and Conflicts: ensuring judicious use of grants - avoiding socio-economic inequities; managing conflicts & grievances; and
• Safety: maximizing seismic safety by providing multiple structural design options for additional safety through thinner walls, lighter roofing, and connected structural systems.
The Remaining Challenges
At a program level the two major challenges that are being gradually met include:
• Maximizing the judicious use of housing grants -reducing program drop-outs; and
• Further increasing rate of seismic compliance, especially in problematic areas
The long term challenge of promoting and sustaining a culture of voluntary seismic compliance in housing construction in the earthquake affected districts is gradually being met, but requires a continued enabling environment, social mobilization and sensitization of disaster-susceptible communities, beyond the project duration.
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