Real Risk

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HE NORTHERN PARTS

of Pakistan are among the most isolated

areas of the western end of the Himalayas, surrounded by

high mountain passes. The area’s remote human communi-

ties reside in narrow valleys dominated by mountains and rivers.

Ethnic diversity of these areas is unique, and many of the passes

are migration routes between central Asia and the Indian sub-conti-

nent. The construction of the Karakoram Highway has opened the

area to outside influences.

Pakistan’s northern regions are disaster prone, falling in a seis-

mically unstable zone at the point of confluence of the Indian and

the Eurasian plates. These regions are regularly impacted by natural

disaster events such as earthquakes, floods, landslides and droughts.

Degradation of natural resources, especially the loss of foliage and

vegetation, has caused land degradation and soil destabilization.

Earthquakes have resulted in the destruction of houses, infrastruc-

ture, facilities and property, as well as creating economic and social

hardship.

The Northern Areas and Chitral (NA/C) portion of northern

Pakistan encompasses two of the country’s poorest regions – 50 per

cent or more of its overall population of approximately 1.2 million

lives below the poverty line. Cultivated land per capita is only 33 per

cent (0.11 hectares per person) of the national average, with per

capita income being 56 per cent of the national average. Only 5 per

cent of the available land in NA/C is suitable for human settlement,

the rest occupied by high mountains. Due to the extreme climate,

winter temperatures in most areas fall to as low as minus 15 degrees

Celsius.

Understandably, thus, the region has poor housing conditions.

Over 80 per cent of all houses are made of mud, or of dry masonry

for wall construction. All houses have wooden roofs with a heavy

layer of mud for insulation. These houses are a death trap in the

event of an earthquake, as demonstrated by the earthquake in nearby

Kashmir on 8 October 2005.

The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), through its various

development agencies and affiliate bodies, has been working for the

social, economic and environmental uplift of the NA/C communi-

ties for decades. Recognizing the connection between poverty, high

seismic risk and poor housing construction, habitat risk manage-

ment has always been essential to the AKDN development process,

with physical development undertaken to minimize risks associated

with natural disasters.

As part of the AKDN, the Aga Khan Planning and Building Service,

Pakistan, (AKPBSP) undertakes initiatives to develop built infra-

structure and promotes indigenous construction technology in these

areas. AKPBSP assists organizations and institutions to improve

communities’ built environment and living conditions through

applied research and implementation; improved technological prod-

ucts and tools; and institutional capacity building.

Focus Humanitarian Assistance (FOCUS) is a crisis response

agency affiliated with the AKDN. FOCUS provides disaster risk

management and emergency humanitarian assistance for vulnera-

ble communities in the developing world, and has units in Canada,

Europe, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the USA. Through its

Prevention, Mitigation and Preparedness (PMP) programme,

FOCUS Pakistan builds communities’ capacity to reduce their

vulnerability to natural and man-made disasters; prevent disasters

where possible; reduce the harmful effects of disaster; and assist

communities and institutions in preparing for effective disaster

response.

Public buildings – schools and health centres

The Kashmir earthquake killed approximately 83,000 people,

including about 18,000 children who died in schools when the

school buildings collapsed (around 5,300 schools – 66 per cent of

all schools in the affected area – collapsed during the earthquake).

Yet another 15,000 or so children perished when around 400,000

housing units collapsed during the earthquake. The earthquake also

destroyed 420 health facilities (74 per cent of the total health facil-

Risk resilient communities: the Aga Khan

Development Network in northern Pakistan

Asif Merchant, CEO, and Khizer F. Omer, Manager Planning and Evaluation,

Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, Pakistan

Karim Nayani, Nusrat Nasab and Samina Sardar, FOCUS Pakistan

General view of northern Pakistan

Photo: AKPBSP