press releases
USAID Helps Build Community Resilience
03/06/2006
Islamabad – A decade ago, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supported community-based organizations in remote areas of Pakistan in an effort to strengthen local capacity and address challenges. Today, this investment has paid off, particularly for some villagers affected by the October 8 earthquake.
The earthquake drove 550 villagers, including 300 children and 20 widows, from their home in the village of Chaproachoshal in the mountainous region of Balakot to the Mansehra District, hundreds of miles away. Through training offered through USAID’s support for community-based organizations, the isolated village had created many contacts that helped strengthen their marketing of their rich agriculture and live-stock base. One business contact established through that network learned of the tremendous destruction in the village and responded generously: the contact provided the Chaproachoshal villagers enough land in Batrair, Mansehra to build a temporary 65-tent encampment. The land provided the base the villagers needed to re-establish a sense of normalcy.
The U.S. also contributed. As part of U.S. government earthquake relief efforts, USAID supported the camp in Batrair with water filters and purification tablets so villagers would have safe water to drink and bathe. USAID also provided primary health care and relief supplies, helping villagers withstand the crisis as they prepared to rebuild their lives. Both before and after the earthquake, USAID assistance helped the villagers become more resilient in the face of unanticipated economic and environmental shocks.
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.