Main navigation

Earthquake Assistance in Pakistan

An Example

The WFP (the United Nations World Food Program) normally hands out dry rations to families in the refugee camps (rice, flour, wheat, ...). But it's not always easy for people in the camps to turn the flour into suitable food. There is also a huge temptation to sell the rations, which are supposed to last for 6 months. This means families sometimes then go hungry.

As a contractual partner of the WFP, Shelter Now is responsible for part of the distribution. Rather than giving out 6 months worth of rations at once, we deliver smaller amounts every two weeks. Shelter Now has also built bakeries, enabling the families to make use of their flour. The children bring dough prepared by their mothers or sisters to the bakery where it is placed in the ovens, producing the "naan" bread typical of the region. The baking takes just a few minutes. The children can then take the bread back to their families.

Almost 100,000 people died in the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit northern Pakistan on October 8, 2005. Another 76,000 were injured while more than three million were left homeless, having lost everything. One of the greatest fears of many people in the region was, and continues to be, the threat of freezing to death during the winter.

Shelter Now was at the scene within a few days of the disaster. By the onset of winter – which can be extremely severe in that region – we provided 8,000 families with survival kits for the winter. Each family received:

a winterized tent
a thermal ground sheet
6 mattresses
6 warm, quilted blankets
a small wood-burning stove

This emergency aid cost nearly 2.3 million dollars.

Finally something to smile amount: after the terrible earthquake, Shelter Now distributes survival kits for the winter.

At the beginning there were difficulties for organizations throughout Pakistan to aquire enough tents. Shelter Now came up with an innovative solution, producing tents in its own workshops. "In the end, we even had enough tents to supply other organizations", says Len Stitt, Director of Shelter Now Pakistan.

Since the spring of 2006, Shelter Now has handed out winter kits to another 4,000 families. This time though, we were able to provide not tents but temporary housing made out of corrugated iron. This offers more robust protection than a tent and can be used for several winters. We have so far helped 75,000 people survive the winters since the earthquake.

Within a few weeks of the quake, Shelter Now had set up a soup kitchen where up to 10,000 people a day received a hot meal throughout the winter.

Working with the United Nations' World Food Program (WFP), Shelter Now ran similar projects for many years in the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan, earning recognition from the German Government and several other western nations.