IRIN
PAKISTAN: Water a major challenge for earthquake survivors
28 February 2006


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

JHELUM VALLEY, 28 February (IRIN) - Balancing a huge, iron pot on her 
head, young Zahida negotiates a steep, rocky track up the side of a 
mountain. When the rain turns the earth into thick mud, the route is 
treacherous. But Zahida must still brave the 2-km journey to the nearest 
mountain stream to collect water as the village spring has dried up.

"Our biggest problem is water and it's not just a problem in our 
village, but in all the villages here," said Mir Zemaan, the community 
leader in Mirjali village, sweeping an arm towards the endless valleys 
around him.

"Our water source has been totally disturbed because of a landslide," he 
says.

Mirjali is in Langa Pura Union Council in the Jhelum Valley. Around 
30,000 people live in Langa Pura and most of their homes were destroyed 
by the 8 October earthquake that killed over 80,000 people. Aid agencies 
were quick to act and now all the survivors in the area have basic 
shelter and food. But few have easily accessible clean water.

When the earthquake raged through northern Pakistan it disrupted water 
sources. Water pipes broke, mountain springs dried up and water storage 
tanks cracked leaving hundreds of thousands of survivors without water. 
To make matters worse, many remaining water supplies have been 
contaminated by livestock, as well as rubbish and detritus thrown into 
streams.

The lack of clean water is widespread across most districts affected by 
the earthquake.

"Water is the biggest problem now in rural areas," said Jamil Ahmed 
Awan, head of operations for the UK-based charity Islamic Relief.

"Everyone was focusing on camps and on sanitation facilities, but now 
Islamic Relief is planning to focus on water supply schemes in rural 
areas," Awan said, acknowledging the problem.

He pointed out that lack of access to rural areas has so far impeded 
efforts to restore water facilities.

"Many roads are still blocked, like [those] into the Neelum and Lipa 
valleys. As the army clears the roads we are able to get to areas to 
assess water supplies," he said.

Islamic Relief intends to mend cracked pipes and tanks, and to provide 
sanitation facilities, along with health and hygiene awareness, in 
several areas across the earthquake-affected region.

The task of collecting water is given to women and children who spend 
many hours a day trekking between their villages and water sources. 
Since the earthquake, children like 10-year-old Zahida are forced to 
work to help struggling families.

"We're concerned about children being taken out of school to collect 
water," says Rosie Jackson, livelihoods project manager with UK-based 
charity Save the Children.

"All the assessments in Bagh and Muzaffarabad, whether on child 
protection or livelihoods, were screaming water. That's the number one 
priority at the moment in the rural areas," said Jackson.

Mountain guides working for the United Nations Office for Project 
Services (UNOPS) report that scores of villages in the Neelum Valley are 
also without an accessible water source.

"Everyone is telling us they need water," says Atta Ullah, a mountain 
guide who has been conducting an assessment in the Neelum Valley.

"Small girls are walking up very steep mountains to collect water. Some 
of them are walking over 3 km per trip and it's very dangerous," he 
observed.

Lack of water is also having an adverse affect on the livelihoods of 
survivors.

"Women are saying they don't have water to grow their vegetables," says 
Jackson. "And as it gets warmer, people will need more water," she 
warns.

Survivors in rural areas depend on livestock and agriculture. More than 
a third of livestock was killed by the earthquake and Jackson said that 
survivors were now struggling to meet the food and water needs of the 
remaining precious animals.

A major issue for the government is the return of villagers who moved to 
towns following the earthquake. The government is advising displaced 
survivors to return to their villages by 31 March, but rural survivors 
living in camps say that until essential services and resources are 
available to them in their villages and hamlets, they will not go back.

"What have I got left to go back to? There is no school, no doctor and 
no water," says Roxanna, a survivor who moved her family from her 
village to a tented camp in Muzaffarabad, the capital of 
Pakistani-administered Kashmir, just after the quake.

Some aid agencies say that restoring the water system is vital for the 
return of displaced survivors.

"If there is no water supply in a village, this could be a major factor 
in the decision-making process of returning," said Shafeeq-ur-Rehman, 
Programme Coordinator for Oxfam.

Oxfam is working to rehabilitate water supplies in 50 villages in 
Muzaffarabad and Bagh districts and will extend the programme to another 
50.

"We're involving rural communities and this is important as we are 
paying them a daily labour wage and we're involving them so they feel 
ownership over the water schemes," says Rehman.

"This way they can take the scheme further themselves, in terms of 
repair and maintenance once we are gone," he noted.

The UN Children's Agency (UNICEF) is the lead agency for water and 
sanitation in northern Pakistan and together with other aid agencies is 
compiling a water and sanitation strategy for the transition period from 
relief to recovery, scheduled from April 2006 to April 2007.

"We are planning to cover pretty much 100 percent of communities in 
earthquake-affected areas," said Julian Parker, water and sanitation 
team leader for UNICEF.

"That means we aim to restore water supplies to communities that had 
them before," he added.


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