POST DISASTER PLANNING? PREVENT THE DISASTER AFTER THE CALAMITY

POST DISASTER PLANNING?
PREVENT THE DISASTER AFTER THE CALAMITY
By
Moin Ansari

The Pakistani nation and the American Pakistani has risen up and is working to rebuild Pakistan. Reams of eulogies written about the spirit of volunteerism will not be enough to describe the effort that was put together to fill up entire warehouses. Each and every Pakistani and Pakistani American has been helping. Disasters have a life cycle. We have moved beyond the rescue, are now in the relief and should be moving into the rehabilitation soon.

According to disaster experts, we have to watch the life-cycle of disasters:
disaster-before-the disaster, (lack of preparedness)
then there is the disaster, and then there is (lack of planning)
the-disaster-after-the-disaster (lack of vision, preparedness, and planning)

Pakistan has faced the first two. Today we are moving towards the post-disaster issues. I was watching Imran Khan last night on one of the best TV shows on Television (Capital Talk with Hamid Mir). Imran Khan emphasized harnessing the spirit de corps and spirit of our youth volunteers into a formal structure. I suggested it in my last note. We could possibly emulate Peace Corps.

As the government of Pakistan gets its legs and the government reemerges in Muzaffarabad, we will begin setting up "tent cities". According to news reports:

Land measuring more than 400 kanals near Haripur has been identified as one of the better sites for setting up a tent city to accommodate quake affected families but one question that is agitating the minds is whether the villagers from far-off places such as Balakot, Kaghan, Garhi Habibullah, Bakot, Jabori, Battagram and Allai valley in the NWFP would be willing to leave their mountain abodes and live in a small tent in unfamiliar surroundings.

Chief minister Akram Durrani and his ministers have identified Haripur as a comparatively better place for establishing the tent city owing to a host of reasons. A major reason was its moderate and bearable winter climate compared to the colder Abbottabad and Mansehra districts. Kohra Mera in Abbottabad along with Havelian have also been mentioned as possible sites for the proposed tent cities.

As the "tent cities" go up, we have to be cognizant of various factors.
The tents will not last through the winter.

Putting up quake affectees in tents for longer periods appears unrealistic

We have to prepare for the dissolution of the tents. I did some research, and discovered that most of the tents being sent will not provide protection from the elements. We have to find innovative and creative solutions. One such solution is offered by Nader Khilil who was awarded the prestigious Agha Khan Award and has been providing California-code-approved earthquake proof temporary housing solutions to the tsunami victims or India and Indonesia, but also to Siberia, Guatimala. An emergency structure can be put up on two days. It is very low cost and used mud, barbed wire, sandbags, lime and some cement. Volunteers can be trained in a matter of days. A complete video program is available from the website of http://www.earthlight.org/khalili_interview.html

AJMA is partnering with a dedicated team to transfer the technology to Pakistan and provide mentoring to a team of volunteers to build the "Rumi Pods". We are seeking volunteers to help us prevent the disaster after the calamity.