For want of proper coordination
HRCP teams take note of the complaints against the "non-transparent system" of distributing relief goods
By Waqar Gillani
In their frequent visits to the quake-hit areas recently, the teams of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) found a lack of coordination in the distribution of relief goods and also a lack of healthcare facilities for the victims.

October 29 has reminded us, once again, that we live in a disaster-prone region. Two-third of the land mass of Pakistan is on different fault lines where disastrous seismic activity can happen any time. Unlike Japan, where, on average, 400 earthquakes are recorded daily (including those which cannot be felt without proper equipment) and all buildings are earthquake-resistant, we have not done any pre-disaster or post-disaster homework as a nation. Everything is left to the whims of nature and fate. The institution of the state, the structure of taxation, insurance, and the resultant socio-political promise of safety are all manifestations of the human will to survive the calamities of nature and chance. We only have one side of the social contract functional. The citizen has to fulfil his or her duties but the state does not proactively ensure any predictability in life.

In the same way as the nation witnessed earthquake survivors spending miserable nights in tents, without proper warmth, in Muzaffarabad and surrounding areas after Oct 8, 2005, the spectacle is being repeated, though at a different scale. Because, as a nation, we do not learn anything from history, we are condemned to repeat it.

Because protecting the lives of citizens is their basic duty, the state, the federal and provincial governments have to ensure that the housing laws and building codes are followed in the entire country in the areas where no seismic disaster has taken place. And, in the areas where disaster has struck, it is important to provide quick relief and rehabilitation, and to help people to become active in the 'community' of the 'living' -- by providing them homes, jobs, and proper health care. It is learnt that the Pakistan Metrological Department (PMD) had put both the federal and provincial governments in the picture and identified regions with potentially high seismic activity.

We have yet to recover from the 'aftershocks' of the Oct 8, 2005, earthquake. Oct 29 should serve to galvanise the will of our political leaders because a lot needs to be done in the areas of disaster-preparedness and post-disaster relief.

Hidayatullah, a middle-aged shopkeeper, was fast asleep in his mud house in Wam village, a hilly area of Ziarat district of Balochistan, at around 4 in the morning of October 29, 2008, when the earth under his bed shook badly. The jolt was so severe that it razed his house to the ground in no time, burying alive at least 14 members of his family under the debris.

The 6.4-magnitude pre-dawn quake flattened the mud-brick houses and triggered landslides in the eight impoverished villages of the Ziarat district. It also jolted parts of the province thrice -- at 4:33 am, 5:12 am and 5:35 am. Most parts of the province, including Ziarat and Quetta, experienced over 1070 after-shocks till Wednesday last.

According to reports, the earthquake originated from the Khanozai Range - about 60 kilometres north east of the provincial capital. "Most of the after-shocks measured three to five on the Richter Scale," said an official of the seismic observatory centre, talking exclusively to TNS.

"On the first four days of the earthquake, the people sensed about 795 tremors."

The earthquake killed over three hundred people and injured more than 500. Nearly all the death cases were reported from Ziarat, while the cases of injured people were reported not only in Ziarat's hospitals but also in Quetta, Pishin and other parts of Balochistan. There were considerable material losses, but the earthquake left an equally devastating physiological effect on the locals who have yet to overcome the fear. Over three dozen cardiac arrest related cases have been reported in the civil hospital of Quetta itself. Normal business activity has resumed only recently. After the calamity struck the place, the people were found avoiding leaving their houses, and a majority of them chose to sleep outdoors, in the open, at night, despite the winter chill.

"We are doomed forever," says Jamal Panezai, a resident of Wam, a village in Ziarat that was the hardest hit.

Ziarat saw more than eight of its villages being reduced into rubble.

Relief is slow to come, mainly because key roads have been damaged. People are not satisfied with the relief measures launched by the government and they are extremely concerned. Some of the victims of the earthquake even launched a protest movement, blocked roads in Ziarat and pelted stones and smashed the windowpanes of vehicles on the road.

The major causes of the earthquake are: Tectonic settlement, volcanic eruptions, landslides, settling of rocks and nuclear explosions. There are no volcanoes in Pakistan - except Koh-e-Murdar, a mountain in the east of Quetta. However, it has been declared dead. The three main active seismic zones in the country are Hindukush Range, Balochistan and the coastal areas of the province, close to Pasni. Pakistan lies within these zones, the seismic activities of which have had a significant impact on the country's economy. For example, Quetta valley was completely destroyed by the 1935 earthquake, which damaged property worth billions of rupees. Similarly, the 1974 earthquake caused colossal destruction in Pattan.

The elderly Shah Bibi who lost her six brothers in the 1935 earthquake recalls, "Our houses at Khuda-e-Dad Road (in Quetta) collapsed after the very first tremors. My brother was asleep when the earth jolted us, and suddenly everything came to an end. The next morning onwards, people's lives had changed – for worse."

As many as 73 years later, she is still haunted by the memory of it. "Whenever the earth shakes, I am reminded of the faces of my young brothers. I hear cries of people which seem to come from all directions," she tells TNS.

To study the causes and effects of earthquakes, seismologists divide the world into seven regions - North America, South America, Eurasia, Pacific, Australia, Arabia and India. Earthquakes are caused by the movement of these regions which, at an average, move from two to three centimetres annually. Pakistan lies in between the Eurasian and Arabian seismic regions and is, thus, prone to quakes. The major seismic zones here are Makran, Quetta, Kirther Range, Suleman Range, Salt Range, Himalaya Range, Indus Valley in the Northern Areas and the Chaman fault.

"Quetta's seismic zone is composed of areas from the Afghan border of Dobandi to Muslim Bagh, Pishin, Chaman, Ziarat, Mastung, Bolan, Sibi, Kalat and a part of the Khuzdar district of Balochistan," says Sardar Akhtar Hussain, geologist of GSP, while talking to TNS.

Pakistan has, since the Oct 29 earthquake, received relief from a number of countries including Saudi Arabia, USA, Germany, Iran, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. The relief has come in the shape of goods that include tents, blankets, medicines and food supplies.

However, as usual, complaints about the failure of the government in distribution of these goods amongst the earthquake victims in Ziarat and Pishin areas have also followed. There have been reports of misappropriation of the relief fund, such as the donations worth millions of rupees made by the neighbourly Punjab, Sindh and NWFP governments.

Social and political workers who surveyed the affected areas complain that only a fraction of relief goods were distributed among the victims; as for the rest, mystery surrounds. Kulsoom Panezai, a resident of Ziarat, placed the blame on the government for "doing nothing for the victims".

Her feeling is shared by a majority of those affected by the quake. The common people of Balochistan criticise the government as well as the local administration for their inability in managing disaster.

The Oct 29 earthquake proved fatal for the otherwise calm and composed Ziarat district. Reportedly, over 300 persons fell victim to the catastrophe that struck the scenic district. Besides, over 500 persons were injured and a half of the population was rendered homeless.

Ziarat is situated at a distance of 133 km from Quetta and is at an altitude of 2449m (8200 ft) above the sea level. The district was established in July 1986. It has a population of 100,000 and is subdivided into two tehsils, namely Ziarat and Sinjavi. The latter is more densely populated.

The district contains a total of ten Union Councils.

The major tribes of Ziarat are Pashtoon tribes such as Kakar, 96%; Dotani, 1%; and Tareen and Raisani - 3%. The language of the district is Pashto.

The Kakar tribe is split into the following clans: Dummer, which is the largest tribe of Ziarat district, in Tehsil Sinjavi, Panezai, Sarangzai, and Essa Khel. Kawas is the largest village of the district. Most of the people are Dotani who came from Waziristan a century ago. This tribe has a great influence in the politics in the region.

Raisani is the sub tribe of Tor Tareen.

Ziarat has some of the oldest Juniper forests in the world. A tourist destination, the economy of the district also benefits from orchards of apples and cherries.

Ziarat also has the highest Human Development Index of all districts in the province.

The name Ziarat means 'shrine'. A local saint, Kharwari Baba is believed to have stayed in the valley and given his blessings. He was also buried here. People visit the saint's shrine, which is 10 kilometres' drive from Ziarat town.

Ziarat remains quite cool during summers and receives heavy snowfall during the winter. The valley is also famous for hiking and trekking.

Various gorges also offer adventure and fun during the summer season. The place is also popular during winters.

The villages fall in the Kachh and Kowas Patwar circles that include Wam, War Choom, Spezandai, Gogi, Kachh, Kan, Tor Zawar, Tungi, Koshki, Kowas, Ungi, Spezandi, Susnak Manna and Zargi. All these villages were badly affected and nearly all houses in the areas were razed to the ground. The most badly affected were War Choom which inhabited 1,899 dwellers (959 male and 940 females) as per the 1998 Population Census.

The inevitable has happened. We did not learn our lessons from the earthquake of 2005 and, hence, allowed another natural calamity to play havoc with the lives of thousands of poor people.

Ironically, it's not the lack of resources or money but that of a political will as well as a bureaucratic lethargy that have made a majority of Pakistanis suffer. The government's response to the Oct 29 quake in Balochistan hasn't been any different from what it was in 2005. It never went beyond providing emergency relief to the victims. What about recovery and reconstruction?

The cost of post-disaster relief measures could well be minimised if disaster risk reduction (DRR) or disaster preparedness was fully enforced. But this concept is still alien to Islamabad and our provinces.

As for the latest tremors, media reports suggest that the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) had already warned the federal and provincial governments. When contacted, an high official in the meteorological department told TNS that the intimation to the government was not specifically with regard to Ziarat or adjoining areas but also places where the seismic activity is high and where risk reduction activities such as the implementation of seismic building code and existing community buildings need to be increased. Experts believe that these measures could help reduce losses in the wake of an earthquake.

Interestingly, the revised building codes exist in the form of the Building Code of Pakistan (Seismic Provisions 2007) and early this year Pakistan Engineering Council Act incorporated these in its Construction and Operation of Engineering Works Bye-laws, 1987.

Although NESPAK (National Engineering Services Pakistan (Pvt.) Limited) developed a Building Code for whole of Pakistan for the Ministry of Housing and Works in 1986, they were never fully enforced and, as technology became more advanced, they became outdated.

In Nov 2005, the Ministry reassigned NESPAK the task of detailed seismic hazard evaluation and formulation of recommendations for earthquake resistant design of buildings. These were approved by the cabinet which directed the concerned authorities to also educate the building engineers, a task that was never undertaken.

These codes could also be effective if districts and tehsil administrations identified their own risks and prepared disaster risk reduction plans. Najeeb Ahmed Amir, a meteorologist at PMD who has done MS in Seismology, told TNS that apart from northern areas and the Makran belt, Quetta, Ziarat, Pishin and Chaman are also high-risk areas.

The PMD has already done seismic hazard analysis of the entire country with specific information about the probability of disaster in the next 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 years. This information can be used when raising seismic resistant structures.

Lt Gen (r) Farooq Ahmed Khan, Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), reveals that President Asif Ali Zardari has decided to amend laws to declare non-observance of building codes a criminal activity.

It seems that the government is taking the easy way out, as we saw in the past that this resulted in an increase in corruption in building regulatory authorities.

Disaster-mapping is a task to be coordinated by NDMA at the federal level and it is to be implemented by the provincial governments.

The donors are already irked given the slow pace in installing the disaster management structure. Even though NDMA was established in late 2006, inductions of its 50 (approx.) officers have just been completed. The government of Balochistan has issued notification for the formation of a Provincial Disaster Management Authority but it has not yet been made fully functional.

A source in the UN told TNS that there was a need for search and rescue teams for which at least two European countries had also committed funds and sent expensive equipment, but it took the Pakistani authorities over 18 months to decide which department would house this set-up. It was recently decided that in Lahore Emergency 1122 will house the team whereas in Karachi and Islamabad the respective city authorities will own them.

Out of the three teams, the bigger city will have an 88-member team while smaller cities will have a 50-member team each. It is an expensive venture because there will be at least 43 training sessions for these teams while the government has to bear the expenses incurred on their salaries etc.

In the context of the Balochistan earthquake, the source said that although NDMA had done considerable work with regard to disaster preparedness and relief work, its current command's understanding of recovery and reconstruction was quite limited.

This was also observed in last year's floods when in June, 2007, Cyclone Yemyin, torrential rains and floods hit as many as 28 districts of Balochistan and Sindh, killing 314 people, while 224 persons were reported as missing.

The calamity affected 2.5 million people and destroyed 22,300 houses in Sindh and another 57,640 in Balochistan. The loss to crops and livestock was enormous. The cyclone destroyed critical infrastructure, including water courses, roads and bridges. Interestingly, the government ended its relief activities after one month and did not enter into the recovery phase. Observers believe that this time around also the official response will not be any different.

A UN official told TNS that it had not been approached by the government to issue flash appeal for international financial support. The message from NDMA is that the government can manage it.

ERRA (Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority) is another organisation that was expected to play an important role. An official of ERRA told TNS that its response to the Balochistan earthquake was limited to sending two aircrafts carrying relief goods. "Although ERRA's mandate is limited to the 2005 earthquake in AJK and NWFP, the federal government can extend it to Balochistan," the source added, "because somehow it has shown more expertise than any other rehabilitation organisation has done."

It is pertinent to note that earthquake and flood are not the only natural disasters confronted by Balochistan. In 2000, the region was among those areas that experienced the worst kind of drought. Two years later, another episode of drought affected the livelihood of millions of people and resulted in a great number of human deaths, besides forcing tens of thousands of people to leave the place and killing a large number of cattle. The main arid rangelands are Thar, Cholistan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Tharparkar, Kohistan and western Balochistan. The latest disaster will only add up to the province's grievances against the centre.

The Balochistan earthquake has, once again, brought up the issue of lethal consequences of such natural calamities in Pakistan -- both human and economic. According to experts, Pakistan lies in the region prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes. Sixty-six of our country's total area lies on the fault lines which can cause tremors any time. Ignoring these fault lines and building codes, according to them, can cause huge loss of life and property.

"Since Pakistan is situated near the Hidukush mountains, where earthquakes are frequent, an earthquake of average intensity can occur any time in Islamabad and north western areas of the country," Zahid Rafaee, Director Seismic Network of the Met Department of Pakistan, informed the media after the earthquake.

He added that considering the active fault lines that were passing beneath different areas of Pakistan, the country had been divided into 19 zones. "There are further seven zones within these 19 zones in which violent earthquakes can occur. The most dangerous zones include northern areas, Makran, Quetta region and Azad Kashmir. This danger was completely ignored while building high-rise buildings in big cities like Karachi."

After the Oct 2005 earthquake the government authorities decided to review and implement building codes throughout the country keeping account of our vulnerability to earthquakes. The first meeting following the quake, and the cabinet decided to review the building code and regulations for construction in order to determine changes necessary to prevent such widespread destruction in the future. The debate on the strict implementation of the building codes was discussed for no less than two years after which it disappeared in the files of different ministries.

On Oct 3, 2006, Chaudhry Karamatullah, Managing Director National Engineering Services of Pakistan (NESPAK), during a presentation given to the then Federal Minister for Water and Power -- Liaqat Ali Jatoi -- said that NESPAK was all set to prepare a new building code for Pakistan to protect buildings against future damages caused by high intensity earthquakes. He told the meeting that recommendations for preliminary seismic design parametres and criteria for a seismic-resistant design for buildings in Islamabad and Rawalpindi had been completed and were being made for the rest of the country as well.

"We have already prepared a building code for Islamabad, AJK and some parts of the NWFP that were hit by last year's earthquake, whereas the building codes for all major cities of Pakistan has also been revised," he told the meeting.

A geologist who has worked with NESPAK after 2005 earthquake told TNS that these building codes and NESPAK's proposals were not being implemented even in areas that are the worst affected. According to him, Muzzafarabad city is situated on a very active fault line and NESPAK, in its initial report, suggested relocation of the city "but the higher authorities of AJK government not only declined to do so, it also pressurised NESPAK to omit this part from the report because it did not want to make the issue public."

He quoted former federal minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat, saying that the government had planned to relocate the district infrastructure of Muzaffarabad, some 4 kilometres away from the present location because currently it lies at the fault line. "But the city has never been relocated, putting lives and properties of thousands of people at stake."

He believed that unless higher authorities became serious, the building codes could not be implemented in Pakistan to prevent "large-scale devastation from earthquakes".

In their frequent visits to the quake-hit areas recently, the teams of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) found a lack of coordination in the distribution of relief goods and also a lack of healthcare facilities for the victims.

"The local government, Pakistan Army and Frontier Constabulary (FC) have got their separate camps that are working without proper coordination," observed Fareed Ahmed, an HRCP provincial coordinator, while talking to TNS.

He said that a large number of victims were without proper shelter and healthcare facilities which had added to their misery.

Fareed also spoke of a report compiled by HRCP that had a number of registered complaints against the non-transparent system of distributing the relief goods. "The victims need shelters, water and medicines, but the government agencies are only getting them lamps for use at night. What about their basic needs?

"We have made recommendations for the forming of proper, impartial committees for distributing and monitoring the relief work," he said, "However, the problem arises because all agencies are running their (relief) camps independent of each other."

According to Fareed, the relief goods were sufficient but their distribution was not systematic.

"There are small dispensaries that have been set up in the camps of the local government, army and Frontier Constabulary. They do not meet the medical requirements of the people who have caught a number of diseases like malaria, diarrhea, and bad cough, because of the biting cold and a lack of proper hygiene."

Fareed blamed the government for showing criminal negligence towards the health facilities of the quake victims. "The people in the region have been left at the mercy of God."

He said that healthcare facilities were important not only in this situation but was generally an issue for the people of Balochistan. "Come to think of it, the province doesn't even have proper trauma centres that would deal with routine, emergency cases."

He urged the government to give this issue due importance, especially since President Asif Ali Zradari had also promised to improve health conditions in Balochistan.

An analytical report of HRCP Balochistan chapter has already declared the province as lacking in basic health facilities. According to the report, currently there is the 80-bed Sandman Hospital in Quetta, a few civil hospitals in Chagi, Zobe, Lora Lai and Sibbi. Besides, Quetta has Railway Hospital and one missionary health facility that have been serving people for the past 125 years.

General practitioners are said to have started working in Quetta in 1970. Private hospitals were to come up years later. In 1976, Bolan Medical College was established and Sandman Hospital was attached with it as a teaching facility.

In a place with a population of over 7.7 million, the health department was constituted in 1971. Presently, Balochistan has 28 districts, 119 Tehsils, one Municipal Corporation, 15 Municipal Committees, 30 Towns and 396 Union Councils. According to the government record, there are 24 district headquarters' hospitals, four tertiary care hospitals, 11 Tehsil hospitals, 71 Rural Health Centres, 511 Basic Health Units, 21 Tuberculoses clinics, 595 civil dispensaries, 84 Mother and Child Healthcare units, 28 Health Help Centres, 13 Leprosy clinics and a few TB DOT centres. The total number of beds in all these hospitals put together is 2, 925.

The HRCP team observed that the attitude of doctors was not professional in all of the abovementioned facilities. Besides, the medicines were substandard and lacked infrastructure.

A chart showing the number of hospitals vis-a-vis the number of beds in 24 cities of Balochistan

1 Quetta 4 1,660

2 Sibbi 3 126

3 Kharan 2 77

4 Bolan 2 66

5 Khuzdar 1 78

6 Jafarabad 2 62

7 Kallaat 2 90

8 Zobe 2 100

9 Jhal Magsi 1 10

10 Lasbela 2 68

11 Ziarat 1 10

12 Awaraan 1 14

13 Qila Saifullah 2 54

14 Mustung 1 20

15 Lora Lai 2 128

16 Panjgor 1 32

17 Dera Bugti 1 22

18 Gawadar 2 40

19 Pasheen 1 35

20 Katch (Turbat) 2 77

21 Qila Abdullah 1 54

22 Naseer Abad 3 20

23 Chagi 2 50

24 Kohlo 1 35