press releases
USAID Helps Construct Homes And Rebuild Lives
02/23/2006
Islamabad – Most families in the Mansehra District in northern Pakistan lost their homes and sanitation systems when the earthquake struck on October 8. With winter approaching, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) immediately responded to the need for temporary shelter and proper water and sanitation facilities.
With USAID’s help, more than 9,000 families in the district have now built earthquake-resistant shelters with wooden walls and tin roofs. Families have also constructed sanitation facilities, allowing for better sanitation options and hygiene practices. USAID partner Mercy Corps provided building materials to more than 6,200 households in the Siran and Konch Valleys, paying families 4,200 rupees each for their labor. Meanwhile, USAID partner ACTED provided shelter supplies and household items to 3,000 families in the Kaghan Valley, paying 800 rupees to each family that constructed adequate sanitation facilities.
Families eligible for this support had lost their homes in the earthquake and preferred to spend the winter in their village rather than moving to a temporary camp or another home. Each family agreed to salvage wood from their destroyed home and to complete specific parts of their new shelter in order to receive the next round of building supplies. The supplies included woodworking tools like hammers, saws and nails, plastic sheets and corrugated iron and household items like a stove and bedding. As a result of the program, several families who had moved to tent camps were able to return to their properties.
"People were hammering away until 10 at night," said Sultan-ur-Arifeen, who helped supervise the construction of 32 shelters in his 900-person village of Daryal in the Siran Valley. "Everyone pitched in," he said. In Daryal, women collected flat stones and sculpted a low mud base for the wooden shelter frame while men did the woodwork. "This is the first time we’ve helped construct a home," said Sabiha Khanum, a Daryal woman. "We did it because we wanted to help."
USAID’s shelter program helps families build structures resistant to future earthquakes, provides families with a warm room to get through the winter and ensures the safety of families that are gathering resources to rebuild permanent homes. Proper water and sanitation facilities close to shelters improve hygiene and accessibility to safe drinking water. The cash-for-work programs available to those who construct their own structures enables people to buy necessary items and helps reinvigorate the local economy.
The United States, through USAID, is providing more than $1.5 billion in development assistance to Pakistan over the next five years to improve education, health, governance and economic growth. In addition, the United States has pledged a total of $510 million in earthquake relief and reconstruction efforts to assist the people of Pakistan and to support Pakistani government relief and reconstruction efforts.