IRIN
PAKISTAN: Women hit hardest in quake aftermath
8 September 2006


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

MUZAFFARABAD, 8 September (IRIN) - Traditional coping systems have been 
stretched to breaking point following last year's massive earthquake in 
northern Pakistan and women are bearing the brunt.

Nearly 75,000 people died in the October quake that flattened towns and 
villages making some 5,500 women widows and particularly vulnerable.

Gula Jan lost her husband seven years ago, but her position is typical 
of many of the widows at Chelha Bandi camp for quake survivors, who are 
relying on the waning support of extended family.

"Since [my husband died] my brother has supported us, but he lost a lot 
in the earthquake and cannot support me anymore. He also has eight 
children of his own," Gulab said from the camp, in Muzaffarabad, capital 
of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

"I was a maid before but there are no jobs for me now. And even if I 
would find work again, it would not be enough for my family. Besides, I 
have no land either - the earthquake took it," she said.

In the aftermath of the quake, vulnerable groups such as women, have 
been hardest hit according to the government. Northern Pakistan is a 
largely rural area where women already struggle with gender 
discrimination, social exclusion, illiteracy, socio-economic 
difficulties and low incomes.

According to tradition, women in this strongly conservative region 
traditionally stayed at home raising their children while men went out 
to work.

Since the disaster their roles have changed drastically. Women are often 
the main breadwinners for the family where the male head of the 
household has either died or suffered from permanent physical 
disabilities.

The government's Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) 
has established a social protection strategy to focus on vulnerable 
groups in the earthquake-hit districts of North West Frontier Province 
(NWFP) and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

According to the ERRA, customary practices often denied women their 
right to inheritance and limited their access to property, income and 
livelihood options.

The government has recommended providing technical assistance to 
vulnerable groups, including widows, but it would primarily only be 
available to property owners.

For the poor majority who have no property, community-based care options 
are being considered, but no plan has yet been finalised.

While the quake aftermath has highlighted women's vulnerability, family 
and kinship structures have proved expedient in coping with another 
vulnerable group - orphaned children.

Nearly 41,000 children became orphans as a result of the earthquake and 
nearly all have been spontaneously fostered by extended family members.

While most cultures consider children who have lost both parents to be 
orphans, in Pakistan a child who has lost his or her father is 
considered an orphan too.

Older women who provide for the protection of orphaned grandchildren 
must ensure their own safety as well as that of those in their care.

Nuran Bibi is a grandmother to nine children who lost their parents in 
the earthquake.

"I don't know how it will work out. I cannot support all nine of them," 
Nuran said from her shelter.

Naheed Bibi, 18, the oldest of Nuran's grandchildren, goes to an Islamic 
school and will become a teacher within a year. Now living in Chamra 
Camp, also in Muzaffarabad, her future is uncertain.

"I don't know what will happen to us," said Bibi. "When I finish school 
I cannot support the eight others and my grandmother. My father was a 
shopkeeper and my mother a housewife. We struggled then [before the 
earthquake] but now it is hopeless."


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