A 20,000-strong team made up of students and other local people have completed a mammoth task of planting 40,000 trees in earthquake affected areas of Kashmir.

The initiative is part of ActionAid’s on-going disaster work in the area where a major earthquake in 2005 compounded the existing human tragedies arising from conflict.

Eighty percent of the trees have been planted on hilly areas which have witnessed landslides and deformation after the quake. But the benefits will not stop here.

Shazia Rehbar of ActionAid’s Srinagar team who works with women and orphan-headed households and others living below the poverty line explains:

“The aim is not only to prevent soil erosion, but also to help boost the income of hillside communities where fruit trees have not been grown till now.”

The trees include both fruit and non fruit trees, like walnut, pear, apples, Cypress and Rubina.

“The fruit trees are mostly planted on individuals' lands bringing hopes of a new source of income to people in areas like Upper Uri, Kandi Kupwara and Karnah who currently depend on labouring work,” says Jalil Ahmed, ActionAid project officer in Kupwara district.

In the spring of 2006, ActionAid planted 30,000 fruit and non fruit trees in vulnerable areas of Kashmir. This year’s planting drive started on March 1 and was completed by April.

Photo Caption: Students at Boys College Kupwara, in north Kashmir, taking part in a tree plantation drive launched by ActionAid near their campus.

Photo: ActionAid