| A powerful earthquake which struck the Kashmir region on Oct. 8, 2005, left 86,000 dead, more than 100 000 injured, and 3.5 million homeless. Large cities were literally flattened, and hundreds of mountain villages cut off from aid for several weeks following the destruction of electrical and road infrastructure.
Development and Peace sent $1.6 million in aid in the days and months following this humanitarian crisis in order to:
- Meet the urgent needs of 5,000 families living in the most isolated villages of Pakistan and making available to them more than 3,000 tents, 12,500 blankets, 5,000 ground sheets, hundreds of cooking and sanitation equipment to help them survive the difficult winter conditions;
- Offer medical care and social services follow-ups throughout the rebuilding of 4,000 homes in Indian Kashmir;
- Assist in the return of displaced villagers as early as January 2006 and help them to start reconstructing their homes as soon as the snow began melting. Moreover psychological, professional and human rights programs were set up to support villagers rebuilding their lives;
- Make available more than 1,600 temporary shelters and basic necessities to approximately 2,000 peasant families in the vulnerable region of Machiara in Pakistan. Twenty temporary schools were set up allowing about 1,000 children to return to classes quickly;
- Offer psychological and social support to 1,200 families returning to the devastated area of Balakot, in particular to children aged between 5 and 13 to help them overcome the trauma and protect them from further health and social problems, such as stress and the interruption of their schooling;
- Begin construction of several hundred houses in areas covered by partners. This phase is currently underway.
Generous individual donors and support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) have allowed Development and Peace to provide this aid and fund many partner-implemented projects. Moreover, Development and Peace is planning to renew next year, its support to several reconstruction projects in the large region of Muzzafarabad in Pakistan, where health and educational services are still sorely lacking.
Since the earthquake struck, Development and Peace has relied upon its long-term partners in the field, well known for their emergency aid and reconstruction expertise. Among these are:
- Three members of Caritas Internationalis, the worldwide network of relief, development, and social service of the Catholic Church, Caritas India, Caritas Pakistan and the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), a sister agency of Development and Peace in the United States;
- And, three other organizations which share the same values and ways of approaching humanitarian assistance: Première Urgence, the International Federation of Terre des Hommes and the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC).
Development and Peace is the official international development organization of the Catholic Church in Canada and the Canadian member of Caritas Internationalis, a network of 162 autonomous, Catholic, emergency relief, development and social service organizations working in 200 countries and territories. Last year, Development and Peace provided $18.4 million to support 309 long-term development projects and 72 emergency relief projects in the Global South.
- 30 - |
