The challenges of reconstruction after the October 2005 Kashmir earthquake

Abstract

The 8th October 2005 Kashmir Earthquake was one the largest earthquakes in Northern Pakistan in its recorded history. It caused an unprecedented level of damage and destruction in Pakistan Administered Kashmir (PAK) and the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP). It damaged or collapsed more than 0.6 million buildings - leaving 3.5 million people shelter less as winter approached. A large part of the earthquake-affected area is difficult to access and highly snow-prone, with rugged terrain and scattered settlements. It posed unique challenges and efforts on a massive-scale for reconstruction. For residential buildings, the Pakistan government adopted a house-owner driven approach. The reconstruction policy stated that the government and other agencies would provide equal technical assistance and subsidy to each family, without differentiating between who lost what. To increase capacity in earthquake-resistant construction, large-scale training of artisans, technicians, engineers, and community mobilisers has been conducted. Campaigns to “build back better” have raised awareness in the communities. Local Housing Reconstruction Centres have been established for training, advice, and dissemination of earthquake-resistant technology. This decentralised approach has helped in achieving reconstruction smoothly. This paper will present the authors’ first-hand experience in the reconstruction effort, and the opportunities and unique challenges faced.

Post Disaster Reconstruction after 2015 Gorkha Earthquake: Challenges and Influencing Factors

“…Lack of reconstruction framework in institution, policy and reliable data affecting housing targets and reconstruction plans has led to chaotic confusion and, ultimately, reconstruction delays in the reconstruction after 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka [18]. Lack of interface between community and the reconstruction authority, inaccessibility, lack of awareness, manpower shortage, and knowledge gap were pointed out as a key challenge of reconstruction in Pakistan after 2005 Kashmir earthquake [11]. Lack of coordination, commitment, policy and institutional framework had resulted conflict amongst the different stakeholder and led to duplication of works along with inefficient utilization of funds [17] after 2004 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami.…”

“…Especially when the institutional set up of NRA is broadly the elaborated concept of top-down approach. The reconstruction framework, which basically overlooks the importance of participation and integration of cultural and social assets in reconstruction process 11 , is doomed to fail. In most of the reconstruction process, cognitive mapping and social integration of planning have proved to be very efficient.…”

In-Plane Behavior of the Dhajji-Dewari Structural System (Wooden Braced Frame with Masonry Infill)

“…The performance of dhajji-dewari in the 2005 Kashmir earthquake is yet another proof of the consistently earthquake-resilient behavior of this system (Rai and Murty 2005, Mumtaz et al 2008, Schacher and Ali 2008. Keeping in view the good performance of dhajji, the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA), the official body of the government of Pakistan responsible for reconstruction and rehabilitation in the earthquake-affected areas of Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, encouraged its use for construction of housing units in the far-flung mountainous earthquake-hit areas where the system was already known but had fully or partially disappeared over the years.…”

A Comparative Analysis of Reconstruction Strategies Employed in Major Earthquakes of Indo-Pak Region

“…More than 2.8 million people became homeless as a result of 455,000 partial or total collapse of buildings. The overall economic loss was close to 5.2 billion US dollars (Mumtaz, Mughal, Stephenson & Bothara, 2008;Javed, Khan, Penna & Guido, 2006). Pakistan has a large percentage of population which belongs to the low-income group.…”