Also visit Rebuilding Hope... Rebuilding Lives...

The massive earthquake that hit Pakistan and northern India on 8 October 2005 devastated the lives and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people. In response, Centre for Environment Education (CEE) has put together a rehabilitation program 'Rebuilding Trust' for the affected people, with the objectives of:

· offering relief to the communities affected by the earthquake
· providing shelter to the worst affected families through the winter months
· offering trauma relief to children affected by the earthquake and continuing their school program
· building the foundation for undertaking an integrated rehabilitation programme in the long term

The Affected Area
Baramulla and Kupwara are the two worst affected districts from the earthquake. A team from CEE Himalaya visited Baramulla and Kupwara soon after the earthquake for a needs assessment survey. Of the 8 sub-divisions (tehsil) of Baramulla district, Uri is worst affected followed by Baramulla and Sopore. 29 villages of Uri tehsil are severely damaged. In Kupwara district, Karnah tehshil is worst affected with 42 villages where most of the houses and schools have collapsed or are badly damaged.

Phase I
In the first phase, Rebuilding Trust is focussing on education, shelter and capacity building to meet the immediate rehabilitation needs.

I. Education and Trauma Relief

Children and adults alike have been traumatised by the earthquake. Almost every village has one or more primary schools, but the buildings are damaged and cannot be used. The construction of school buildings will take time. Most of the teachers are from the same area and are also under trauma, fear and stress. The felt need is to resume teaching and the academic sessions to not only help children and teachers get over the shock but also to ensure that children's education is not overly affected.

Based on CEE's experiences from previous rehabilitation programmes, it has taken up education, trauma relief and awareness-raising as primary areas of intervention.

This programme has two components:

a. 'Umang Schools' - An 'Umang' school is a 'school without walls'. The Umang school methodology is combination of formal and informal learning, with partly curriculum based activities. 50 such schools have currently being planned. Once schools restart after winter, the programme would be extended to the over 300 schools of Baramulla district.

b. Teacher training to help teachers understand the earthquake-associated problems that people, including teachers and students, are facing, and what can be done to ameliorate them. The workshops would also help the teachers add value to their teaching methodology in these circumstances.

These activities are being conducted at the following locations:

Twenty Umang school programmes have been held in twenty schools in Uri area under the education initiative. As schools in Kashmir close from mid December to March for winter, the activity would be resumed in March 06.

II. Interim Shelters

This programme has two components:

a. CEE has identified the village cluster of Lachhipora, Noorkhah and Bijhama, with around 1000 households, in Uri Tehsil, Baramulla District, as a focus area for intensive work. Architects and students from the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), architectural consultants, and CEE staff members have visited the villages to study the extent of damage and propose models for temporary shelters. The construction technique of most of the houses in the village was found to be very sustainable, and the damaged houses were mostly those that had not been built in the traditional style.

The region has already started receiving snow, and therefore there is great urgency to ensure that the affected families are appropriately sheltered through the winter months. In consultation with the Army, the local government and the villagers, 125 houses have been identified in Lachhipora that are fully or partially damaged by the earthquake. A similar exercise is underway for Bijhama and Noorkhah.

The construction of 128 interim shelters in village Lachhipora has been successfully completed. A prototype was constructed for a beneficiary Zaman Khan of ward Daazan for demonstrating the construction of interim shelters.
Plan India has also offered to support CEE for the construction 250 interim shelters in two more villages. Army has set up a Relief Coordination Cell to control the relief operations of various external agencies including NGOs, and army is allotting the villages to these agencies on the basis of needs assessment jointly done by them and the district administration to facilitate the uniform distribution of the relief and other aid coming to the area.

b. In Urusa, Esham and Dardkote villages in Uri Tehsil, Baramulla District, CEE is partnering Oxfam-GB in the assessment and distribution of shelter packages to 650 affected families. CEE team completed the distribution of 650 shelter kits to the remote villages of Urusa, Chakra, Goalta, Esham and Nava Runda. The entire process included intensive village surveys for beneficiary identification; preparation of muster rolls, distribution cards and assessment sheets; meetings with community members, village authorities, local administration and army to get social support for shelter construction; transportation and storage of materials; and finally the distribution. CEE team also helped to construct three prototypes for demonstration, and six temporary shelters for vulnerable families in Khalsa patti, Urusa and Chakra

III. Capacity Building

A workshop for carpenters and local technicians from Lachhipora village was conducted to facilitate the shelter construction process. Architects from CEPT Akbar, Krunal, Dilip and Juzar were the resource persons for the workshop. The participants were informed about the proper way of making a good interim shelter that is suitable for protecting the inhabitants from harsh winter and snow. Techniques suitable for the region were also demonstrated through the construction of a prototype.

IV. Networking

CEE has formally registered itself with the District administration as a NGO interested in relief and rehabilitation. A 'Lok Biradari Network' for relief and rehabilitation work in the affected areas has also been set up by some Gujarat-based NGOs with CEE facilitating the network's efforts in the Uri area.

To coordinate these activities, CEE has field offices in Uri and Lachhipora. A Steering Committee has been constituted to monitor and evaluate the project.

Mid- and Long-term Interventions

From March onwards (once the snow abates and roads open up), a detailed assessment will be undertaken, based on which interventions for the long-term rehabilitation programme will be decided. This assessment will include socio-economic profiling; architectural and engineering assessment of earthquake damaged buildings; and customised structural and architectural options for retrofication, repairs and renovations. These include individual, school and community buildings.

In the long-term, CEE intends to undertake an integrated programme with a holistic approach that involves

- education and school reconstruction;
- sustainable livelihoods;
- construction of earth-quake resistant permanent shelters;
- repairs of existing structures; assessment certification;
- capacity-building local technicians, carpenters, masons, etc. on earthquake resistant techniques of construction;
- integrating traditional practices into development planning;
- strengthening civil society institutions

Rebuilding Trust is being implemented by CEE Himalaya, an initiative focused on fragile mountain ecosystems, which has been working in the Indo-Himalayan region (from Ladakh to Nagaland) with the objective of building the capacity of local people for sustainable livelihood.

Project Partners

We would like to thank German Agro Action, Mridula Sarabhai Foundation (Ahmedabad), Plan International and Oxfam-GB for their support towards Rebuilding Trust.

Field Office
To coordinate these activities, CEE has set up field offices in Baramulla and Tangdar. The team can be contacted at the following address:

Dr. Abdhesh Gangwar, Regional Director
Dr. Rashmi Gangwar, Programme Coordinator

Phone: +91-522-271 5301, 271 6628
Mobile: +91-94151 04125, 94151 14742
Email: ceehimalaya@ceeindia.org Website: www.ceehimalaya.org

CEE Himalaya
Main Market, Tangdar, Kupwara, J&K 193 225
Kanli Bagh, Baba Rishi Road, Baramulla, J&K 193 101
Phone: +91-1952- 210440, 234845
Mobile: +91-94190 50388, 94199 51696