The Hindu Business Line : Rebuilding their future

The State of Jammu and Kashmir shook for the second time in the wee hours of December 13, 2005. It was a little over two months ago that an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale had struck India and Pakistan, causing enormous damage to life and property. But what was severely hit was the self-confidence of the people of Uri and Tangdhar regions.

The people of Jammu and Kashmir have for long been victims of a political conflict. Therefore, relief efforts faced huge logistic challenges, and more importantly, security concerns. Innovative strategies had to be formulated to ensure that the relief reached in time and to the most deserving people.

As an immediate measure, relief agencies focussed on providing tents to the affected people, with winterised ones being earmarked for those living in higher altitudes. Since normal tents were not suited for harsh winter conditions, it became essential to think of ways to help people cope, and discussions were held with the people in this regard.

Agencies like Oxfam (India) Trust incorporated all this learning in their relief efforts to `retrieve and rebuild'; it distributed complete shelter kits to nine remote villages in the Uri and Tangdhar regions.

Though there was little time to get the kits across to the affected families, the agency ensured that there would be no compromise on the quality of shelters or the raw material.

The first step was to design an appropriate shelter package. The relief agency invited shelter engineers from Gujarat, West Bengal and Bangladesh to design shelters, keeping in mind the needs of the communities involved. For instance, discussions revealed that rectangular shelters would be better suited for accommodating kitchen requirements and exclusive spaces for women.

A prototype with a dimension of 8ft x 16ft was finalised for a family of five. Shelter kits were distributed to families to enable them to construct shelters. The kit included: 23 CGI sheets (10ft x 3ft); 10 CGI sheets (8ft x 3ft); 16 plywood sheets; non-woven flooring (10ft x 12ft); foam sheet (10ft x 12ft); one tool kit (crow bar, shovel, chisel, saw, hammer, clamps, nails, rope, level pipe, tape, tin cutter); and a sanitation unit (toilet base, water tank and mugs).

The tool kit had implements to help people retrieve from the rubble of their destroyed houses as much material as possible for building temporary shelters, and later permanent houses.

The results have been overwhelming. People have beautifully modified their temporary shelters to include kitchens, attic space, and even verandas. They have recovered doors, windowpanes and wood from their destroyed home to create larger spaces for themselves.

But distributing the material to highly inaccessible and politically sensitive areas was quite a challenge and time-consuming.

Tangdhar is about 180 km from Srinagar. However, the distance seems much longer, as the road passes through extremely difficult terrain. The next big challenge was storing the material at the army camps in Tangdhar. There were occasions when the `open warehouse' was covered with snow; and there was limited security to ensure safety of the material.

Though Uri, which is 100 km from Srinagar, is easier to access through the national highway, it was difficult to access the villages, which are spread out and each has a number of hamlets. You can only reach there on foot. To enable the distribution of kits, the agency set up distribution points as close to the villages as possible.

But transporting the kits to these places was very difficult, as only few truck drivers were willing to go there. It was even tougher to send the material to the villages.

But what's most heartening is that people have regained their confidence. As Mohd. Nazir of Chakra village in Uri says, "When the earthquake struck, I never thought we would be able to stand on our feet and rebuild our lost homes. Now, with God's grace, help has come and it is possible."

Though many people have constructed only temporary shelters, they hope to rebuild their homes after winter. However, there are not enough carpenters and masons around. Though shelter continues to be a critical concern, basic medical support and sanitation concerns also need attention. With winter come respiratory ailments, especially among women, old people and children.

Picture by Luv Puri

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