Earthquake Recovery & Rehabilitation

Appeal Target: US$ 16,964,231

Total cover:  US$15,696,095

No further funding requested due to limited implementation period remaining.

On 8 October 2005, an earthquake registering a magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale caused havoc in an area of 30,000 sq/km in the NWFP province of Pakistan and in parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. It was the deadliest earthquake in the recent history of the sub-continent resulting in between 73,000 and 86,000 deaths. The earthquake affected the lives and livelihoods of an estimated 3 million people. A first ACT appeal (ASSA51) was launched for both Indian and Pakistani areas of Kashmir, and followed by this rehabilitation phase appeal which was first launched on 10 April 2006, and revised for the first time on 06 October 2006.

Please find attached the second and final revision of the ASPK61 appeal for ACT member Church World Service (CWS)- Pakistan/Afghanistan’s rehabilitation programme, with an implementation period of two years and eight months, to close on 31 December 2008. This final revised version of the appeal also includes a Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (DKH) rehabilitation programme as approved for inclusion and shared earlier with the alliance in September 2007. DKH have been implementing both directly and through an established local partner with an implementation period ending 30 November 2008. Please note no funding has been requested for DKH as their full budget of US$ 1,620,000 is covered by DKH themselves.

The most recent revision of CWS’s programme took place in March 2008 in close coordination and communication with the ACT Coordinating Office and the larger funding contributors towards this appeal. At the same time an accompanying extension of their implementation period was approved for an additional 9 months to 30 November 2008.  While the changes in CWS’s section of the appeal were agreed in principle with the ACT Coordinating Office and communicated to appeal supporters, this formal approval and issue of the revision as per normal ACT procedures was unusually delayed due to competing emergencies work of the Asia, Pacific and Europe desk of the ACT Coordinating Office. The reasons for revision as explained at that time are as follows:

1. Poor Security Situation: the program is located in region that has a strong following and presence of militant organizations that have harassed and attacked NGOs working in the area and have regularly been calling for strikes and the expulsion of UN and INGOs from the area. This resulted in breakdown of field operations halting progress every now and then. It has also caused psychological stress on the staff.
2. Indecisive ERRA Bureaucracy: The frequent changes in ERRA policy, the lack of coordination between various government line departments, and the delayed issuance of NoC and MoU for our programs has caused and continues to cause delays in implementation.
3. Inclement Weather Conditions: Winter and monsoons (snow and land slides) also caused considerable additional delays in implementation. Some operational areas are inaccessible for at least five months a year; a perennial problem.

Latest update

CWS have reported that the programme targets are on track and they are hoping to complete all planned activities in couple of months, except for the School Safety Programme.  In the School Safety Programme, 40 schools were targeted for retrofitting. However, the government (ERRA) did not grant CWS the approval to proceed with the concept of retrofitting due to lack of specific technical expertise. However, approval was given to work on school reconstruction, which then required more funds. Please note that with this change is plans, the budget earmarked for school safety is only sufficient to cover 6 schools and this is where CWS have focused time and efforts. Reconstruction of all six schools is in progress. A further one month extension of the implementation period has been requested and approved for completion of this work by 31 December 2008.

A final ACT evaluation of the programmes within this appeal will be conducted.

Please see the reporting schedule that follows for deadlines for full ACT reporting on both the CWS and DKH programmes in the appeal.

Project Completion Date:

CWS P/A          -           31 December 2008

DKH                -           30 November 2008

Reporting schedule:

Summary of Appeal Target, Pledges/Contributions Received and Balance Requested:

Note: Appeal ASSA51 has been completed.  Reports are awaited and transfer of any balance to ASPK61 will be requested.

Signed by:

John Nduna
Director, ACT Co-ordinating Office