Pakistan, looking back a year after the earthquake

Providing News For Quake Survivors

© DAVID SWANSON/IRIN A year after a powerful earthquake devastated northern Pakistan, some 100,000 still live in tent camps as another winter approaches. Families like Nadia’s (above) continue to rely heavily on radio news to stay informed about relief and reconstruction efforts as they rebuild their shattered lives.

When Pakistan’s worst natural disaster struck on October 8, 2005, over 80,000 died — including 30,000 children in classrooms. More than 100,000 were injured, and 3.5 million lost their homes.

With transmitters down and radios lost in the rubble, survivors had little access to credible information. Rumors were rampant. Many in cut-off mountain villages realized too late that their best hope for survival would have been to trek out, their wounded on their backs, as bad weather meant no helicopters were coming to rescue them.

Within days of the quake Internews organ-ized a team of radio reporters from the North West Frontier Province to produce comprehensive coverage of the humanitarian situation and the relief effort, helping people to make critical decisions about their future. The journalists had received extensive training from Internews over more than two years in field reporting and radio production.

MARK EDWARDS/STILL PICTURES/INTERNEWS Journalist Sumeera Awan interviews an earthquake survivor in northern Pakistan for Internews’ radio program of post-earthquake humanitarian information.

Internews’ daily one-hour program, Jazba-e-Tameer (The Desire to Rebuild), was broadcast on seven emergency FM radio stations licensed by the government following intensive advocacy and policy advice by Internews.

Jazba-e-Tameer, which ran through July 2006 and was broadcast in Urdu, Hindko and Pahari, played a vital role in providing survivors and relief organizations alike with ongoing coverage about the reconstruction process.

Gul Pervez, a listener in Thakot Village, Battagram, said, “Jazba helped end confusion about seismic reports in the red zone areas and stopped rumors about mass evacuation. Now people have enough information and have started rebuilding their homes.”

Another listener, Bilal from Bathkool Village, Battagram, said, “Jazba gives voice to the voiceless. It has become the local BBC of Pakistan.”

Jazba has had significant impact in improving effectiveness and accountability in the relief effort. After the program reported that the 10,000 refugees in the tent village of Tariqabad, Muzaffarabad, had been without electricity for nearly two months, authorities restored power within the week.

Jazba also reported on the illegal sale of relief goods such as tents, blankets, and medicines by shopkeepers in Mansehra. In response, a district police chief promised on the air to establish distribution checkpoints, ending the illicit sales.

Together with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Internews also distributed 10,000 multi-power radio sets to quake survivors to keep them informed of issues affecting them. The radios can run on hand-crank, solar, battery, or electrical power.

Internews’ post-earthquake work in Pakistan was funded by the UK’s Department for International Development, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.