Paragraph on Natural Disaster
Natural Disaster
A natural disaster is a major adverse or tragic event resulting from natural processes of the Earth such as earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, fires etc. It is a phenomenon that can cause loss of life, property damage and destroy the economic, social and cultural life of people. The severity of disaster depends on the affected population’s resilience or ability to recover. Any adverse event will not rise to the level of a disaster if it occurs in an area without vulnerable population. On October 8, 2005 a major earthquake occurred in Azad Kashmir. The magnitude of earthquake was 7.6 on Richter scale similar to San Francisco earthquake in 19.6 and Quetta earthquake in 1935. As Saturday was the normal school day in the region, most students were at the school when the earthquake struck. Many were buried under collapsed school buildings. Many people were also trapped in their homes because it was month of Ramadan, most people were taking a nap after their pre-dawn meal and did not have time to escape during earthquake. Reports indicate that entire towns and villages were completely wiped out in Northern Pakistan. This earthquake also affected countries in the surrounding region where tremors were felt in western china and Tajikistan. Government of Pakistan’s official death toll was 75,000 while nearly 1400 died in Jammu Kashmir and four people in Nangharhar province of Afghanistan. The national and international humanitarian response to the crisis was extensive. In the initial phase of response, the Pakistan medical corps, corps of engineers, army aviation and a large number of infantry units played important role. US Marine and Army helicopters stationed in neighboring Afghanistan quickly flew aid into the devastated region along with five Chinook helicopters from the Royal Air Force that were deployed from the United Kingdom. Five crossing points were opened on the (LoC) line of control between India and Pakistan, to facilitate the flow of humanitarian and medical aid to the affected region, and aid teams from different parts of Pakistan and around the world came to the region to assist in relief.
In early 2006 the Government of Pakistan organized a donor’s conference to raise money for rehabilitation the infected area. A total 6.2 billion US dollars were pledged and a large amount of the money was delivered in terms of services of international NGO’s with high pay scales. The rest of the money pledged, which was given to the Government of Pakistan for reconstruction and development, was used by (ERRA) Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority, which was made by then military regime to accommodate retired high military officials and while keeping the command of ERRA directly under the military. This authority has been highly criticized for luxurious non-developmental spending and false statistics. Practical reconstruction and rehabilitation were carried out by Turkey, Japan, Saudi Arabia and UAE. The basic infrastructure including tertiary care, health, education, road networks, water supply, waste management and other basic needs are still under developed and has not reached pre-earthquake status in the region.
