Building back better: From beneficiaries’ resolve to reality
October 1, 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 and rehabilitation of an estimated 425,000 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).
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.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.
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.
Shahnaz Arshad, World Bank's team leader for the rural housing reconstruction program states that: ”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 had 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, and run the risk of being unacceptable to the intended occupants.”
The Impact
More than 75% (350,000) of the 450,000 rural housing reconstruction grant beneficiaries have started to rebuild their homes. This progress is based on an unprecedented (6-8 times higher) first year reconstruction response by beneficiaries in Pakistan, in comparison with other recent post-disaster housing programs. The first year reconstruction surge has been followed by sustained physical progress in the second construction cycle as well.
The current trend at the plinth level inspection stage 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 305,000 beneficiaries have already passed the first floor-level inspections of their houses. Almost 95,000 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 200,000 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.
Additional Resources
- Pakistan Earthquake: The World Bank has committed US$870 million in earthquake assistance to Pakistan. This includes US$220 million for housing reconstruction and US$85 million for livelihood support. - World Bank Program in Pakistan: Website maintained by the World Bank Office in Islamabad, a launching pad to all information on World Bank activities in the country (strategy, projects, publications, etc.) - Analysis and Research on Pakistan: Compilation of all the World Bank's publications on Pakistan, with 'search' options and links to analysis and research on other South Asian countries. South Asia: Development Data A wide range of social and economic measures on South Asia, including links to the World Bank's most important online development databases. (Read More »)
South Asia: Analysis and Research Compilation of all the World Bank's publications on South Asia, with 'search' options and links to analysis and research on other South Asian countries. (Read More »)
World Bank Program in South Asia Launching pad to all information on World Bank activities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.(Read More »)
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