One year after the October 8 earthquake devastated parts of  South Asia, ActionAid's response continues in Indian Administrated Kashmir, implementing a large-scale ‘cash-for-work’ project which has seen the planting of 38,000 trees to protect the environment and provided an income source for thousands left destitute by the quake.

One of only four international non-governmental organisations still working in the area, ActionAid has reached over 84,000 people since the earthquake struck last year.

Efforts are now focused on the rehabilitation of the 31 villages most affected villages, reaching at least 3,100 families directly through livelihood, sanitation projects and restoring pathways and natural water supplies.

ActionAid is the only international organisation working in Karnah on the military Line of Control having been granted special permission from the army after local people requested that ActionAid be allowed to do its work there.

ActionAid and all NGOs are under strain as they are unable to cater to all needs in all affected areas, particularly as a second winter sets in and many families are still without permanent shelter.

Thousands still in temporary shelters

At least 50,000 people are still living in temporary shelters mainly due to problems accessing compensation funds and in securing land to rebuild their homes.

Soon after the earthquake, the Indian government announced that people whose houses were completely destroyed would receive 135,000 rupees (about US$3000) and those with partially damaged houses would receive 30,000 rupees (US$650).

But payments are often late and a large proportion of families are still to receive their second instalment.

Issues with compensation payments

Munazar, a 35-year-old woman whose husband died in the quake, says although she has received the funds to start rebuilding her home she has no land to build on.

“The ground is so cracked that we cannot irrigate or plant so we have no crops this year and our compensation money is slowly getting eaten up,” she says.

On the other hand, many families did not qualify for the full grant despite their ‘partially damaged’ homes needing to be completely rebuilt. Some have received no compensation at all.

"In Bagna (a cluster of villages in Baramulla district, Kashmir), 15 per cent of quake affected families have yet to receive the government relief and this is causing them immense hardship”, reported community leader Syed Hussain Qazmi at a recent meeting with government representatives organised by ActionAid.

Concerns are also being raised over education – there have been no government initiatives to rebuild schools destroyed in the quake – and disaster preparedness.

Assessing the social economic and psychological damage

In an effort to facilitate effective relief and rehabilitation, ActionAid has supported the Kashmir University and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) to launch a report assessing the social, economic and psychological damage caused by the earthquake. read the report....

ActionAid has joined local people in urging the government of Jammu and Kashmir to speed up compensation payments and create a disaster management authority as a matter of priority, to coordinate efforts in what is still seen as a highly vulnerable area.