Flashbacks, nightmares haunt quake victims two years on
Recovery in quake-hit Kashmir is underway but remote villages are missing out on healthcare and education, says ActionAid.
Earthquake-hit districts of Kashmir are on the path to recovery but with hard-to-reach hospitals and many schools still unusable, people in remote areas are still reeling from the 2005 disaster.
Through a community-based mental health programme run by ActionAid in 24 remote villages in Uri and Karnah tehsils (sub-districts), people are sharing some of the problems they are facing.
“Flashbacks, nightmares, depression, high blood pressure and withdrawal from social interaction are common among quake affected-people two years on," says Rubina Syed, a volunteer counsellor with ActionAid.
In tehsils near the Line of Control – Uri in Baramulla district and Karnah in Kupwara district – bad roads and security concerns are preventing 45 villages receiving government healthcare, according to development workers.
“Children, women, the elderly and infirm are having particular difficulty getting to local hospitals,” says Shabana Mahajan, ActionAid's mental health officer, in Kupwara district who coordinates psycho-social activities including a counselling centre at Tanghdar town hospital.
"We are finding that post-traumatic stress, schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorders are more common in survivors who lost their family members or are living in acute poverty,” says Mahajan.
“While over 65 per cent of permanent construction is complete, poorer people are still struggling to improve their semi permanent shelters. Many of these families have had to use the compensation money received from government to cover basics such as food and healthcare,” she adds.
Community-based counselling sessions are part of ongoing awareness programmes by ActionAid, and have involved nearly 500 women and men from remote villages.
Still without schools
It is not only healthcare. Children in many areas of Uri and Karnah are left studying outside or in small ActionAid community centres.
Over 100 schools were damaged in the October 8, 2005 earthquake which registered 7.6 on the Richter scale and claimed around 1300 lives in Kashmir. Assessments by ActionAid indicate that 40% of village schools are still without buildings.
“Autumn cold has already set in and children are finding it difficult to study out in the open – there is a real urgency to speed up reconstruction of schools,” says Gulzar Ahmed, ActionAid’s coordinator in Uri.
There is also an urgent need to improve water and sanitation. The water pipe network suffered major damage in the quake. In remote areas it is yet to be restored.
ActionAid Response
ActionAid was one of the first humanitarian organisations to respond to the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and remains the only international agency working along the Line of Control.
ActionAid is in the final phase of a Rs2.09 crore (GPB 259,000) reconstruction programme in 24 villages covering around 30,000 people in Uri and Karnah districts. Funding is from donations to the UK Disasters Emergency Committee of which ActionAid is a member.
The reconstruction programme which ends in December 2007 involves developing village amenities through cash-for-work programmes. All this work is being supervised and implemented by village committees made up of local residents.
Elements of the programme include drinking water and sanitation, childcare centres, vocational training for women, livelihood for the most vulnerable families, disaster preparedness and understanding the impacts of climate change.
Until September 2007, 5040 days of work have been generated, helping people with much needed cash, psycho-social well being and basic village infrastructure.
Ten footpaths connecting village hamlets on high mountains in Uri tehsil have been constructed and repaired. The footpaths have helped over 3000 people, particularly women and children, move around more easily in difficult terrain.
Fifty new toilet units have been constructed in five villages in Uri to improve sanitation conditions.
Currently 2500 children are receiving nutritional food and psycho social care through 24 village child centres.
With the hand over of counselling work by Srinagar-based staff to local women in Tanghdar, the Counselling Centre run by ActionAid from the Tanghdar sub-district hospital has become an example of community-based psycho social care.
In just four months and after a series of trainings, local women have taken over full responsibilities of the centre. So far counselling services have been provided to about 465 people in both hospital centres and at in their villages and increasing numbers are approaching the counselling centre.
Vocational skills centres managed by local women are operating in 23 villages providing training in traditional crafts and tailoring to 144 women in Uri and 234 women in Karnah.
Other initiatives underway include distributing cows and sheep to 230 poor families and development of 13 new natural drinking water sources to benefit around 3000 people.
ActionAid has begun mobile medical camps in 24 villages expected to reach 5000 people.
A community and school-based disaster preparedness programme is equipping over 6000 people with skills, confidence and knowledge to help them stay safe in when disaster strikes.
