prepared by The RISEPAK(1) Team at LUMS
A. Executive Summary
1. An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 on
the Richter scale struck Pakistan on the morning of October 8, 2005. It
dealt serious damage to the districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and
the eastern part of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), affecting
a region of 30,000 square miles and at least 73,338 people were killed
and 69,412 injured (GoP 10 Feb. 2006). In addition, an estimated 2.8million
persons were left without shelter (IOM 21 Oct. 2005).
2. Soon after the earthquake, the Government of Pakistan (GoP) instituted a compensation scheme for those families that lost family members, experienced house damage, or suffered from injury. A compensation of 100,000 PKR was paid for death, 25,000 PKR for injury, and 50,000 to 15,000 for injuries. The payment is being recorded on a form known as a Qabzul- Wasool (QW), which is a receipt for payment. The process for the first round of compensation was supposed to be completed by mid-February.
3. The RISEPAK Team, active in relief efforts and information regarding relief, set about to assist districts in computerizing the QW data and determine its veracity for future compensation. Given RISEPAK's overall objective that no one should be left behind in relief during this period of crisis, we were interested in determining the level of coverage of compensation through the QW process and identify problems and limitations of the current scheme in order to assist future planning and the second round of compensation.
4. After three months in the field, we have determined that the largest issue is the management of information and a lack of process regarding data flow. It is nearly five months after the earthquake, and despite the millions of rupees that have been given out in compensation there is still no idea as to how many persons have received funds and what proportion of the population still remain to be compensated.
5. The lack of information regarding explicit eligibility criteria with respect to compensation, particularly for house damage, has also created problems for affectees. The criteria need to define and distinguish between competing concepts of house, household and multiple attached structures.
6. In particular, the compensation and any future cash-based program needs to address those families that will remain vulnerable by virtue of having moved out of the affected area or were residing as tenants in a destroyed housing structure.
7. District level capacity to handle incoming data, and to maintain standardized data handling protocols need to be constructed and GoP needs to invest time and money for hardware and personnel.
8. Many jobs have been lost as a result of the earthquake, and the GoP needs to play an active role in job creation.
Notes:
(1) Relief and Information Systems for Earthquakes, Pakistan (www.risepak.com)
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