IRIN
PAKISTAN: Assessment report reveals far reaching damage to livelihoods
24 February 2006


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United 
Nations]

MUZAFFARABAD, 24 February (IRIN) - Shopkeepers, small businesses and 
farmers who have lost land and livestock have been left most vulnerable 
by the 8 October earthquake in northern Pakistan and 
Pakistani-administered Kashmir, according to a recent assessment report 
by the UK-based charity Save the Children.

The damage has had a knock-on affect on the region's poorest survivors - 
farmers whose small plots of land does not yield enough produce to 
sustain them throughout the year and so depend on shopkeepers for 
credit.

Now that the network of available credit has been destroyed rural 
families are struggling to survive and shopkeepers have not only lost 
their livelihoods but also money owed to them.

"Many of the families living in the poor and very poor wealth groups 
rely on credit from local shopkeepers to sustain them through the winter 
period. This support has not been possible this year. Support to restart 
this system is needed now," said Rosie Jackson, livelihoods project 
manager with Save the Children UK.

According to the report, 99 percent of survivors were not working due to 
lost land or livestock, destroyed businesses or new priorities, such as 
finding shelter. However, the assessment reveals that some survivors are 
simply waiting in their villages for more aid rather than returning to 
work and risking being overlooked.

The January report highlights two groups of survivors who face long-term 
livelihood problems: households who have lost a male breadwinner and 
rural households who have lost their land in the quake.

Many families rely on remittances from work in other cities and 
overseas, mostly as casual labourers, skilled labourers or government 
workers and between 30 - 40 percent of the overall income of 
Pakistani-administered Kashmir is generating this way. But the 
earthquake disrupted seasonal labour migration, resulting in the loss of 
this chunk of income.

Forty percent of agricultural land has been lost to landslides and at 
least a third of livestock has been killed, including prized buffalo, 
which can cost between US $600 - 900.

"When the average monthly salary is 2-4,000 rupees [$33 - 66], it takes 
a long time to replace one [buffalo]," said Jackson.

This marks yet another loss of income for families who sell buffalo 
milk. The milk also provides essential nutrition for children.

To compound the situation, since the earthquake the cost of flour, dhal 
[a type of lentil] and rice has risen to between 120 - 200 percent and 
the cost of transport has increased to around 180 percent in most areas.

Many survivors talk of marginalisation, either due to class or tribal 
and clan loyalties, claiming that this has affected distribution of aid.

Children have been affected by the loss of livelihoods in many ways and 
some children are being held back from school to help with chores.

In the village of Mirjali in the Jhelum Valley, only a few girls attend 
the local school as most must now help their families who are struggling 
to survive. Twelve-year old Sumeera lost four sisters in the earthquake 
and her family lost livestock and precious agricultural land. Sumeera 
spends the day fetching water from a source two km away, as well as 
cleaning the family shelter and taking care of the remaining livestock.

"We're hoping the cash transfer programme will assist families in 
sending some children who have been pulled out of school to go back [to 
classrooms]," said Jackson.

"We also have a concern in terms of child protection and want to avoid 
young children being sent to work in the cities," she said.

To aid the recovery process of those whose livelihoods have been most 
affected, Save the Children has launched a cash injection programme 
which aims to give cash transfers of around $333 dollars to 375 shop 
keepers as well as transfers of around $166 dollars to 5,100 of the 
poorest families across Bagh and Muzaffarabad districts.

"The poor and the very poor are struggling the most and we're expecting 
a high amount to be spent on debt," Jackson said.

To identify appropriate beneficiaries, Save the Children are conducting 
house-to-house assessments and holding focus groups to encourage 
community participation.

"In most cases the community is best placed to identify families they 
see as the most vulnerable. We will work with the communities and use 
our house-to-house assessment to identify those families," said Jackson.

Criteria for receiving the cash transfers will depend on many factors, 
including the number of deaths in a family, the absence of a main 
breadwinner, those disabled and no longer able to work, how much land 
survivors own and if 50 percent or more of that land is unusable. 
Literacy levels will also be used as an indication of poverty.

The government has already distributed compensation to affected 
families, initially of just over $400 dollars per household but there 
are have been problems with the fair distribution of this money.

"In a joint-family society such as Pakistan, where up to four families 
can live in one household, the per-roof basis distribution of the 
compensation means that the money must sometimes be divided between 
several families," said Shafeeq-ur-Rehman, programme coordinator with 
Oxfam.

"The system also does not take into account who in the household the 
money should be handed to," he said.

Save the Children's cash distribution programme will be the first of its 
kind where there are no stipulations on how the money is spent.

"There are no restrictions on this money. We're giving people the right 
to choose what they spend their money on as we respect them enough to 
make their own decisions and priorities," Jackson said.


IRIN-Asia
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Fax: +90 312 495 4166
Email: IrinAsia@IRINnews.org


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